The Walking Dead, a Damn Romance novel
by I am not invisible
Summary: Couple Caroline and Daryl face many trials during their relationship in the apocalypse. Mistakes happen, they lose people but through it all they love and protect each other before almost anyone else. Can their love last? Rated T to be safe, Language and some references that I'm unsure about. Please Comment and Rate! Thanks! I don't own anything, just a huge fan!
1. Chapter 1

**_Character description._**

**_Caroline-White/blonde hair that goes down to her waist, normally braided but sometimes down later on, shorter than chin lengthed. Blue eyes that go from blue to grey, depending on mood and she's normally really tan. She has a "Stay Gold" Tattoo on her wrist, based off her favorite book 'The Outsiders', Rafe's name on her other, and A music note on her ankle. She has a heart shaped birthmark on her shoulder. Her ears are pierced, with a ring on the top of her right ear. She wears a lot of finger rings and her grandfathers ring on a necklace._**

**_Leyna- Hazel eyes and short- brown hair that's always loose and tangled, she's got a pale skin. Has only the bottom of her ears pierced._**

**_Rafe- Dark brown hair, olive complexion and brown eyes. Wears a ring around his neck that used to be his fathers._**

**_Chapter One: Losing some, gaining one._**

As I pace, I hear Lori calling me. I don't go though, I'm still worried. I get nervous when Daryl and Merle aren't around. They're the only people I trust, besides myself, Glen, Rafe who was my ten year old cousin who I've raised since I was eighteen and my sister. The only reason I trust the Dixon's is because they saved me from one of the geeks when this all went down.

"Caroline. Come eat, you can stop worrying. They'll be fine." Lori says and gently touches my arm.

"Not hungry." I mutter and go to take a seat by my cousin.

"Want some?" he holds his spoon up for me and I take a bite. "They'll be fine."

"I know, I can't help but worrying. You know me."I say softly

"Eat. You need it." Lori says handing me a bowl and I take it reluctantly.

"They've been gone for days. And then that message." I eat quickly so they'll get off my case.

"Nothing could kill Merle."Shane says with distaste, no one likes Merle but Daryl and me.

"No, but you'd like that!" I say and get up, stomping off into the R.V.

I quickly use the restroom and run out when I hear the siren. I see a red sports car followed by a van. Shane pulls the plug to turn the sirens off and Glen gets out, starting to argue with the others. I wait for the others to get out and scrunch my face in confusement.

"Where's Merle!?" I say with a frown.

"That's the other one I was talking about." Morales mutters to a new person.

"Where is he?!"I say, louder as something else is going on.

Okay, so apparently he's Lori's not so dead husband and Carl's father. When they're done reuniting, he comes over to me.

"Where's Merle!" I say, tears prickling my eyes.

"Caroline? I'm Rick Grimes." He says and I nod silently "Merle was causing some trouble back in Atlanta and I had to cuff him to a pipe."

"Okay, so why didn't you uncuff him when you guys left!?" I say, tears are definitely falling now and Rafe takes my hand .

"I dropped the key." T-Dog says, with a guilty face on. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I swear I'm gonna-" I stop and think "Oh, you're in for a treat. I'll let Daryl handle this!"

I scowl at them and then turn to go in the direction of the lake leaving Rafe with the others. I hear them calling me and yelling that it was getting dark, but I don't care. I sit on a rock with my legs in the water. This is why I should've gone. I can control Merle most of the time and he wouldn't be up there right now. I hear someone come over and I guess exactly who it is.

"Car, you can't run off like that. You know that." Shane says, kneeling next to me.

"Fine." I mutter and get up "You know what? If you had let me go, he wouldn't be in this mess and Daryl wouldn't kick this Ricks ass!"

"Caroline!" He says as I walk back to camp.

He starts following me and catches up.

"Hey, I didn't let you go because we couldn't risk more than them." Shane says calmly.

"You let Andrea go instead of me, when you know I'm the only one that can control him!"I grind my teeth and struggle to not trip. It's dark now and I can barely see.

"I needed you here."

"For what? So I can worry?" I say and gasp when I trip and nearly fall, but he catches me. "Let go, I'm fine."

"No because-"

"Whatever. I'm going to go and try and sleep without the protection of EITHER of them!" I scowl and stalk to my tent and plop on the cot.

"Caroline? Can I come in?" Glen says quietly.

"Fine, whatever."I sit up and wrap my arms around my knees.

"You okay? It's awful cold out here. You should come sit by the fire."

"I'm fine." I say and pull some warm clothes out.

"Want me to keep you company? I can send Leyna in here."

"I don't care. I'll be better when Daryl gets back."

"I'll send her in here later, okay?"

I nod silently and when he leaves I quickly change. I cuddle under the blankets and try to warm up. I hear her come in and come over.

"Car? You asleep?" She whispers and I pretend to be asleep "I know you're faking."

I stay silent and she climbs on top of me like she would when we were younger.

"Get off of me." I say and roll my eyes "You aren't nine anymore, you're 16!"

"You're twenty two and you still get silent when you're upset."

"Do not."

"Do too." She says and plops down on the other side of my cot. "T-Dog said he chained the door shut. No walkers can get to him. He'll be fine, he's tough."

"He-He did?" I sit up and she nods. "Okay."

"Just okay?"

"You know, for my little sister you're calmer than me."

"You're tough too! No walker could mess with you. That's why Shane wanted you here, you're the one of the best shots."

"I was taught by the best" I allow a smile.

"Yeah, Let's get some rest." She says and gets up to leave.

"Wait! Um, since Daryl's not here, could you stay?" I say and she nods, then cuddles next to me with Rafe in the cot beside us.

When I wake up, she's gone and I'm burning hot. Stupid weather, warm at day and cold at night. I change into shorts and my tank top. I fishtail braid my waist-long blonde hair and then head out, wondering why I feel upset. When I pass Shane, I remember. Merle is gone and today, hopefully, Daryl will be back. I take a plate from Lori and scarf it down. I hear Rick talking and I look up. He wanted to go after Merle, Shane, of course, argues and that's when we hear the screams.

I get up and follow them into the woods, seeing Carl, Rafe and the other two kids running with Jaqui. I follow Shane, Dale, T-Dog, Rick and Glen into the woods, after making sure Rafe were okay, and we start beating the walker up. When we chopped his head off I freeze when I see the arrows in the buck.

"Oh, gosh, Daryl!" I say, my hand flying to my mouth "Please tell me he's okay!"

They look at me and I look back at them in horror. We hear the leaves rustle and we turn defensively, I drop my shovel when Daryl comes out and cusses.

"I've been hunting this buck for miles!" He kicks the walker frustratedly then mutters "You don't suppose we could cut off the rear and use the rest of it?"

"I wouldn't risk it." Shane says and I go over to Rick.

"Do you want me to tell him?"I say quietly and Daryl looks up and see's me.

"Heya, Car! I got some squirrel! It'll be great." He grins and holds them up for me to see.

"I got it." Rick mutters under his breath.

"Cool." I say quietly and he comes up to me, looking back and forth between us, then takes my hand as if marking his territory.

"Yo! Merle! Got us some squirrel!" He yells and leads me to the camp.

I look back at Rick and gently tug at Daryl's hand, he looks at Rick.

"Where's Merle, Caroline?"

"He was causing trouble in DC and I hand cuffed him to a pipe." Rick says quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

They look at me and I look back at them in horror. We hear the leaves rustle and we turn defensively, I drop my shovel when Daryl comes out and cusses.

"I've been hunting this buck for miles!" He kicks the walker frustratedly then mutters "You don't suppose we could cut off the rear and use the rest of it?"

"I wouldn't risk it." Shane says and I go over to Rick.

"Do you want me to tell him?"I say quietly and Daryl looks up and see's me.

"Heya, Car! I got some squirrel! It'll be great." He grins and holds them up for me to see.

"I got it." Rick mutters under his breath.

"Cool." I say quietly and he comes up to me, looking back and forth between us, then takes my hand as if marking his territory.

"Yo! Merle! Got us some squirrel!" He yells and leads me to the camp.

I look back at Rick and gently tug at Daryl's hand, he looks at Rick.

"Where's Merle, Caroline?"

"He was causing trouble in DC and I hand cuffed him to a pipe." Rick says quickly and Daryl scowls and throws the squirrels on the ground.

"Well, why couldn't you, I dunno, uncuff him?"

"I accidentally dropped the key, I was running and panicked." T-Dog says nervously and Daryl tries to lunge at him but I put my hand on him.

"Daryl!" I say and he glares at me, then stops.

"If it means anything, I chained the door so the walkers couldn't get at him." T-Dog says, obviously upset and guilty.

"It does nothing. Just tell me where he is. So I can go get him." Daryl says and takes his handkerchief out, wiping his arrows off.

"He'll show you, won't you Rick?" Lori says and stalks off.

"It doesn't feel right, leaving a man up there like an animal! It's not right for any living creature!"Rick says and they start arguing again.

"I'm coming." I tell Daryl and he looks up at me.

"No, not even in the equation. If it's as bad as they say it is-"

"Then you'll need me." I say sitting next to him "Please. I have to go."

"So it's you and Daryl?" Lori says with her hands on her waist.

"Glen?" Then he convinces him to come.

"And me." I say, glaring at Daryl as if daring him to tell me no.

"Me too."T-Dog says and Daryl groans.

"Great. Whatever."

"Caroline! You can't go!" Leyna says and looks at me worriedly "It's just Merle! He'll be fine!"

"Leyna, I have to go! He's my brother!" I say and she looks at Lori.

"They're right, you shouldn't go just for Merle!"

"There's a bag of guns too." Rick adds "We'll get the guns and Merle. We'll be able to protect our own better."

"Fine, whatever!" Shane gives up and looks over at me.

I look away and help Daryl take his stuff to the van. Daryl looks at me and then at Shane.

"Did he get on to you again?" He says with a frown.

"Not since the last time." I look down at my feet.

"You okay?"

"I'll be better when we get Merle. You?"

"Ditto" He says, then honks the horn "Let's go!"

"Be safe Caroline." Rafe says and I hug him tightly.

"I'll be back, I promise." I hand him a knife "You stay safe. Only use it in emergencies."

I sat in the back with Glen and Daryl with T-Dog driving and Rick in the seat beside him. Daryl was cleaning his arrows and I watch him silently. He looks up at me and I look away quickly.

"We should get out here, don't want to attract the walkers." Glen says and jumps out the back when the car stops.

Daryl and I follow then catch up to Rick and T-Dog.

"What do we get first, Merle or the guns?"

"Merle, no question about it!" Daryl answers quickly.

"No, there is a question. You know this place best, which way should we get first?"

"Merle, that way we don't have to go all the way around. We'll get the bags then come back here."

"Okay." Rick says and we sneak behind a building.

Rick signals for us to move and we follow Glen up the stairs. We got to the door that was chained and T-Dog used the chain cutter. Daryl and I pushed past the door.

"Merle!" Daryl says and looks around.

"That's where he was..." Rick says and I gag.

Daryl used T-Dogs handkerchief to pick up Merle's hand and sticks it in his backpack.

"He's-He's gone! Why would he do that! He knew that we would come back for him!" I put my hand on my forehead and try not to throw up or cry.

"Hey, we'll find him. We can't go far but we'll look." Rick says, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't even! You're the reason he's gone!" Daryl says with a scowl "We have to go after him!"

"We'll go after we get the bags" Glen says "He couldn't have gotten far. C'mon!"

Daryl didn't argue and we followed the trail of blood into the next building. Merle had taken out two walkers and apparently Cauterized his hand. The window was broken so he apparently got out alive.

"We have to go get the guns, then we can look around for Merle." Rick says and runs his hand through his hair.

"We can't stop looking!" Daryl scowls and glares at T-Dog.

I grab his arm before he could go after him. He looks at me and then starts pacing. Glen takes a marker and starts drawing on the floor, then shows us where we needed to be. It was me, Daryl and Glen on one side, then T-Dog two blocks away so Glen could escape two ways. Daryl slings his cross bow over his shoulder and Glen leads us to where we needed to stay. I rub my hand gun nervously as Glen ran out to get the bags.

I heard footsteps and turned around. It was a boy younger than me and he was screaming a name something like guacamole.

"My brother?! Merle! Have you seen him?" Daryl says scowling and I feel my gun thrown out of my hand. Someone had grabbed me from behind.

"Let go of her-" But he started grunting with pain as two other men started kicking him.

I struggle against the man holding me, smacking my head against a wall, and I finally kicked him in the groin and flipped him over my shoulder. I grabbed Daryl's crossbow and aimed, but shot the guys butt. Glen ran over and dropped the bags, then they grabbed him, one holding where I shot him. Daryl got up cussing like crazy and I rub my head.

"Thanks. Are you hurt?" He says and Holds my head making me wince. "Got your head good, huh. Here."

He takes his handkerchief out and presses against where I was bleeding as T-Dog and Rick came running up grabbing the other boy.

"Was she bit?"Rick says, his hand near his gun.

"No! What're you gonna do about it!" Daryl says scowling as he stood in front of me "Handcuff her to a pipe?"

"Daryl, it's fine. Help me up. I'll take a look later. I'll need help." I stand up and Rick looks at me curiously "I was a doctor in training. I was a nurse before, but my parents wanted me to go further. I know quite a few things."

"Oh, that's good." Rick says and we go back to the building.

Daryl kept giving the boy the dirty look, but he kept a hold of my hand. I went to the nearby bathroom and looked at my head while they interrogated the boy. I sigh and sit against the wall, I didn't like it when Daryl got to go off on people. I hear a scream and I flinch then put my face in my hands closing my eyes. I hear the door open and a hand on my knee.

"We're going to go get Glen. You and T-Dog will be up on top, we'll be delivering the boy." Daryl says and helps me up.

"Got it."


	3. Chapter 3

T-Dog were on top of a wall with a rifle aiming for the door. We saw a few men come out and they were talking to them. T-Dog was sweating and I could smell it reeking off of him. I didn't particularly like him, but I felt bad that he felt so responsible for what happened to Merle. I was pretty sure he had a reason to be handcuffed.

"He called me offensive names, then he attacked me." T-Dog says quietly.

"I guessed that." I say, giving him a small smile. I'm not good with people. "I'm sorry if I haven't talked to you, I'm not stuck up. I get nervous around people. I'm very introverted. It's no one but me. I'm not mad, He probably deserved it."

"I never thought you were stuck up. Just shy and from what I can tell, you're very kind and caring. You have to, to be able to put up with Merle. I see how Daryl acts around you, more calm and collected. You make him think."

"Thanks. I guess." I laugh nervously.

The people looked at us, then two more came out with Glen on top of the building beside us.

"We can take those two out at the same time and then get him." I murmur.

"Don't want to risk hitting Glen." T-Dog says as Rick and Daryl lead the boy back.

"Fine." I grind my teeth "We'll get him back, I swear."

"Oh, I know." T-Dog says and we catch up with them.

By the time we got back, I had gained a massive migraine. I lie on the floor and rub my head.

"You okay?"Daryl asks softly.

"I probably got a concussion. I'll be fine."

"Want me to rub it?"

I shrug and he starts rubbing my neck even though he was still arguing with Rick. I sigh as my headache started to melt away as they stopped yelling.

"See how nice quiet is?" I laugh when Daryl rolls his eyes, making him laugh.

"Let's go." Rick says and hands us a few guns. He was splitting them up, keeping most of them with us.

We go back, this time all of us go in. Rick was carrying the bag and we all had at least two guns.

"I see my guns, they just aren't all in the bag." The man says and Rick points his up, signing for us to also.

"No, you said to come locked and loaded so here we are."

My heart pounded and I pray that it won't go down this way. I hear an old lady's voice calling for one of the men. She was talking about an inhaler and another man having an asthma attack. She took one look at Rick and then back at the man.

"Are you here for him? Don't take him! He's a good boy and he'll straighten him up. We need him here." She says holding the mans hand.

"We're not here for him. We're looking for a missing person."

"Glen, is his name." I say softly and she grins.

"The Asian boy? He's here, come! I'll take you to him!" She took Rick 's hand and led us through the building.

I sent Daryl a confused glance and we go into a room with a man who apparently was having an asthma attack. Automatically, I went into nurse mode and helped the man. I feel their eyes on my back, but I didn't care. It made me feel... almost normal.

"Can we talk?" I hear Rick say and I look up at Glen, then the chihuahuas and followed them to a room, but stayed outside the door with Glen.

"Was that even you on the roof?" I say and he nods silently.

"Right."I nod and lean my head on the wall.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just smacked my head on the wall when I was grabbed."

"They can look at it for you."

"No, I already did." I smile "I'm fine. Really."

We sit in silence for about five more minutes until they finally come out. The man who seems to be the leader looks at me and glances at Rick.

"Rick says you're a nurse and a doctor in training?"

"Yes, I am."

"We could use your skills here. Would you like to stay?"

I hesitate, do I want to stay? For the first time in what feels like forever, I felt normal when I helped the man. But, could I leave Rafe and Leyna? Or Daryl, who lost his brother? I glance at Daryl, who's glaring at the leader and then he looks at me, then nods.

"It's okay, I have family and him to take care of." I shake my head lightly at Daryl.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. You're welcome here, Caroline."

I swallow silently and we leave quickly. As we head back to the van, Daryl goes off about how we shouldn't have given them half the guns. I keep wondering if I made the right choice for me. We get to where we left the car and we all groan the same name.

"Merle! He's gonna be going to camp with some anger. We should go!" T-Dog says, though it doesn't need to be said.

We start running to the camp and we're almost there when gunshots ring out. My eyes widen and I pull ahead, praying that nothing happened to Rafe or Leyna. When we get there, it isn't Merle. It was walkers who found our camp. I see Rafe and Leyna whacking one with a shovel. I look at Daryl and he nods.

"Caroline!" Rafe cries and I race over, shooting the walker easily with my handgun.

"Are you bit, love?" I say, kneeling next to him.

"No. Leyna and I are okay! I'm just scared." He says, wrapping his arms around my neck.

"You're safe now. I'll never leave you again. I promise." I say, holding my arm out to Leyna and she curls up against me. "I have to go help. I'll be right back, get into the R.V. With Carl and Lori!"

They go in and shut the door, I help Dale and T-Dog with the few they have. I look over at Daryl and a walker's sneaking up behind him.

"DARYL!" I aim my gun and shoot it between the eyes just as he ducks.

"Thanks!"

"Don't mention it!"

We finished clearing them and I see Andrea over a body. Tears prickle my eyes, it's Amy. I hear the R.V. Door open and everyone comes out. Carl runs and hugs Rick, crying almost as loud as Andrea. Daryl comes to my side and touches my arm.

"You okay?

"Later." I whisper, and go over to Rafe "Let's go to bed."

I tuck Rafe in and play with his hair.

"Can you sing that song you like?" He asks quietly.

"Of course." I smile and start singing the song I dedicated to him.

"I was never alive  
>Till the day I was blessed with you<br>When I hold you late at night  
>I know what I was put here to do<p>

I turn off the world  
>And listen to you sigh<br>And I will sing my Angel's Lullaby

No one forever near  
>The one you can always call<br>Right now all you know to fear  
>Are the shadows on your wall<p>

And I'm here close enough  
>To kiss the tears you cry<br>And I will sing my Angel's Lullaby

So tell me how to stop the years from racing?  
>Is there a secret someone knows?<br>I'll never catch all the memories I'm chasing  
>Never be ready to let go<p>

And when the world seems cold  
>You feel that all of your strength is gone<br>There may be one tiny voice  
>Your reason to carry on<p>

And when I'm not close enough  
>To kiss the tears you cry<br>You will sing your Angel's Lullaby  
>Let this be our Angel's Lullaby"<p>

(Lost the rest of this chapter but basically they go to bed and Car. wants to know somethingbut falls asleep bfore she can. The song is written by Richard marx.


	4. Chapter 4

I wake up when I feel him gently lay me down so he can go out. I grab his arm and attempt to pull him back.

"No...Don't leave. Too early." I say tiredly, then sit up when he pulls away. "Fine, I'll follow you!"

"I'm helping them carry the bodies. Take your time." Then he leaves with a smirk.

I yawn and change into my extra shorts and tank-top. I pull my braid out and brush it out. I turn and see Daryl picking up bodies, but he's watching me too. I look out the other side of the tent where Shane is doing the same. I grind my teeth and join Rafe on a chair to help him with his reading. I look up and they're arguing over what to do about Andrea. She won't leave Amy's side. I look up at Leyna and put my hand on hers. If it was my sister, I don't know if I could leave her side.

"Leave her be for Heavens sake!" I say to all of them "Let her be."

I stand up and go over to her with Dale. I rub her back softly and sit with her.

"I'm so sorry. I know how I would feel if it was Leyna. If there's anything I can do, please tell me." I say softly "I can stay if you like."

"Thanks." She looks at me appreciatively.

"No problem. But you know, they need to take her soon." I say rolling my eyes "They don't understand."

"I know."

"You're very strong. I don't know if I could put anyone down."

"You would." She says "Will you help me?"

I nod and help her carry Amy to the truck, then sit in the back with her. I help her put the body in the hole in the ground.

"I got it!" She says loudly so I gently let go.

Daryl sends me a look then says "I still think we should burn them."

"We need to mourn! It's the most normal we've felt in months, Daryl!" I glare at him then help Andrea out.

When everyone's buried, we sit there for a while and I found out Jim was bit last night.

"The cdc is the best chance for us!" Rick argues and Shane rolls his eyes.

"No, we need to go to Fort Benning! We can't trust that it's safe at the CDC! Tell him Lori!"

"I think we should trust his gut." She says and takes Ricks hand.

"It's settled. All who don't want to go are free to leave."

I look up at Daryl "I think we should go. He's right, they may have a cure and safety and walls. When I was there they had armies guarding it."

"Don't you remember I had to save you?" He raised his eyebrow

"I chose to leave, Dad wouldn't let Rafe or Leyna in!"

"What makes you think he will now?"

"Because he's dead." I look down "I won't go if you aren't."

"I didn't say that."He sighs and takes my hand "We're in."

"It's a mistake. Fine." Shane groans, then goes to his tent.

I look at Daryl and he scowls, then we go into our tent. I throw all my stuff in my backpack and Rafe's in his bag. Leyna has her own tent, so she took care of her stuff.

"You two are going to ride with Rick, Carl and Lori. Is that alright with you?" I say softly to both of them.

"Where are you going to be?" Rafe asks and Leyna puts her hand on her hips.

"She's gonna ride with Daryl. Fine, whatever. I'll be packing." She say's and then goes out.

"Leyna! Come-"

"I got her." Daryl says squeezing my hand softly and goes out after her.

"Are you okay with this?" I ask kneeling next to him.

"Yeah. I like Daryl."

"Yeah?" We start putting the tent down as Rick told us all to hurry up.

"Yeah. You're good for him and he's good for you." He grins and I raise my eyebrow.

"You know, I wouldn't do anything if you weren't okay with it. You or Leyna." I look at him and roll the tent up.

"I know, but you do so much for us we want you to be happy. Even if someone's being dramatic." He glances behind me and I turn.

"He's right. I'm sorry." She hugs me and then runs off to help Rick with his.

"What's with her?" I say, stunned.

"I just talked to her." Daryl stuffs the rest of the tent in the bag and takes it to Lori's car.

"Did you make any sense out of that?" Rafe asks and I laugh.

"Nope. You?"

"Not a clue."

"Good, least I'm not the only one. C'mon kiddo." I say and wrap my arm around his neck.

"Hey, here's your knife. Forgot to give it to you when you got back. Attack and all. I took a walker out so I washed it this morning."He takes it out.

"Keep it. Only use it in emergencies. I'm so proud of you."

"Really?" He glows

"Yes. Why don't you go with Carl?" I say straightening his hair out with my fingers.

"Okay." He grins and starts walking over, but I grab his arm.

"Hey, I love you." I smile and kiss his head.

"Love you too, Car." Then he gets in the car with Carl.

"We're not going. We have family in Birmingham. Gonna try there." Morales announces.

"Are you sure?" Rick asks.

"Yeah. Thanks though."

"Okay here." He takes some ammo out and hands it to Morales. "You change your mind and we're on the radio."

"Thanks." Morales nods and I hug him, his wife and two kids.

"You guys be safe okay? Protect your mom and dad." I smile and they nod, then get in the car.

I look over at Daryl and he's strapping Merle's bike to his truck. He looks up at me and then back at his work. I hesitate and then go over to help him. He unlocks the doors and opens the door for me.

"Be right back." I say and go over to Rafe. "Hey.

"Hey." He looks up at me and I grin goofily.

"Guess what I did back in Atlanta."

"What?" He grins back.

"I shot someone's butt." He laughs "That's funny?"

"You shot his butt! Why?"

"Don't tell him, but I used Daryl's crossbow. He attacked my Daryl so I shot his butt!" I glance to make sure Daryl isn't listening "Daryl didn't even notice."

"Are you joking?"

"Nope. Not a bit."

"Yo! Caroline! Let's go!" Daryl calls and we both laugh loudly.

Daryl raises his eyebrows but doesn't say anything.

"Mmmkay. I'm gonna go. Be good!" I say and then walk to the car.

"What's all the giggling about?" Daryl asks as I buckle up.

"Nothing." I grin "Buckle."

"Yes, Mom." He rolls his eyes, but he buckles.

"CDC, Here we come." I put my legs up on the dash and open the window.

"So, last night. I never asked what you were going to."

"What?" I say, pretending to be oblivious.

"You were curious about something last night." He glances at me.

"I forgot. I was tired and we had a long day, it was probably nothing. If I remember, I'll tell you."

"Okay."

I stare out the window for the next hour when I hear a horn beep. Daryl pulls over and gets out. I follow him over to the group."He wants to stay here."

"That's what I meant back in the camp, when you shot me down. I agreed with Daryl partially. We should let him decide. It's his choice, not yours." Dale says and Lori mutters her agreement.

Five minutes later, Daryl, Shane and Rick were carrying Jim over to a tree.

"Another tree, huh?" He looks at Shane with a weak smile.

I'm the last to say good-bye, but I don't mind. I hug him softly, careful not to hurt him.

"Take care of that boy!" He murmurs softly then looks at Daryl "Take care of her. You won't know how much she means until you lose her."

Daryl nods, then looks at me. I hesitate before joining him in the truck.

"It doesn't feel right. Wish I could help him." I say looking out the window as we start back up.

"I know, but it's what he wanted." He looks at me comfortingly "You can't help everyone."

"I know, but I try." I look out the window and pull my legs up on the seat.

When we get there, it's getting close to turning dark. I lock the door and take Rafe's hand with Daryl's on the other. I hesitate, I hadn't been here since it all went down.

"You okay?" Daryl asks and Leyna looks at me.

"I'm fine." I nod and stay behind of the others.

I gag at the stench that fills the air as we get close. All the soldiers are gone and corpses took their place. I take my jacket that's wrapped around my waist and hand it to Rafe to cover his nose. Leyna uses hers and I use my hair. We get to the iron doors and it starts to get dark.

"There's no one here! We need to get out of here! Rick!" Lori calls over the kids whimpers when walkers start coming out.

"I know you're there! Help us! Please!" Rick hollers as Shane starts pulling him back to the cars.

I hesitate, then step out from the back when I see the camera move. It turns to me and I take my father's old pass out.

"Wait." I mutter and yank my arm away from Daryl, everyone's watching.

"Car-" I put the pass to the camera and wait a few seconds, then the doors open.

"You're not crazy Rick." I say and Daryl looks at me, then takes my hand.

"What the Hell, we're all crazy."Daryl throws his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Get all your stuff, when this door closes it stays shut." An unfamiliar voice calls.

It takes us about five minutes for us to get our stuff inside and when we do, the doors close slowly. The man's tall and he has a worried look on his face. He takes us into the computer room which is very familiar to me.

"Vi, turn on all the lights."The lights turn on at his voice.

"Where are the others?" Rick asks as he takes blood.

"This is it." The man says, distraught.

"Then who was Vi?" Lori asks, confused.

"Computer." I mutter and close my eyes. Blood makes me weak, despite all we've been through.

"Vi, tell our guests... .Welcome."

"Welcome." A computer generated voice says.

"What happened to everyone else?" I ask and keep my mind off blood.

"They opted out. There wasn't any hope."

"Oh." I say and rub my arm, then sit next to Rafe, who'd finished first.

"Only reason I let you in was because of your pass. May I ask why you have it?"

"Um... He was my father. I, uh, was a nurse and doctor to be. I took a lot of science classes. They wanted me to stay, but I have these two to take care of." I squeeze Rafe and Leyna's arm.

"You're awfully shy to blood for a nurse slash doctor slash scientist."

"I know."

"Kitchen's that way. Help yourself, we have plenty." He says finishing Andrea.

She stumbles and we all stand to help her, but she pushes us away.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Jacque informs him.

"Well, go eat."

"Didn't get your name." I say, staying back.

"Jenner."

"Caroline." I shake his hand "We appreciate this, we've been through a lot. Rick will probably come talk to you later."

He nods and I go into the kitchen where everyone's eating. Daryl pours me some wine and I reluctantly take it. I sip slowly and laugh at everyone's drunkenness. Everyone but me and Jenner's so drunk I could almost not stand it.

"I think I'm done!" Glen slurs and Daryl shakes his head.

"Uh-Uh little man, I want to see how red your face can get!" He laughs then takes another sip from his bottle.

I look down at my cup and set it down. I finish my plate and for once, the hunger that drives us is gone.

"Can I try some?" Carl asks

"Me too?" Rafe says.

"And me?" Leyna adds

"Uh.." Dale and Rick look at me and I groan. The one part of being a parent I dislike.

"Leyna yes, Rafe... Just a tiny tiny bit." I flinch and Daryl laughs.

"Lighten up!"

"That's as light as I'm getting." I grab Rafe's when he gags. "Good boy."

"We haven't properly thanked our host." Rick says and everyone thanks loudly.

After we finish eating, Jenner takes us to our rooms.

"Don't plug anything in that will use up the generator. And please, don't use up all the hot water."

"Did he say, hot water?" Glen grins.

"Yes he did!" T-Dog laughs, happily.

"Gimme your bag." Daryl says and I hand it to him gently.

"Thanks." I follow him to our room. "I remember."

I help him pull the bed out and put sheets on them.

"Oh?" He looks up and I sit on the bed.

"Yeah."I brush the tangles out of my hair.

"Well, are you gonna ask it?"He takes my brush and gently runs it through my hair.

"Why... Um, why are you... It's just, whenever I come in and you have your shirt off you freak out and put it back on. I was just curious... Why. I don't want to see you naked or anything but I...Gosh..." I turn red and take my brush from him, stuffing it in my backpack.

"You're wondering if it's you." He sighs. "No, I just don't like people looking. That's all."

"Okay. You wanna come take a shower?" I ask getting my clean clothes out.

"I will later."He says and I stand there looking like an idiot.

"I can wait for you if you want."

"Um, no, go ahead."


	5. Chapter 5

"Fine. Whatever" I leave the room before he can say anything else.

I take a long shower and then come out fully clothed. I go into the game room barefoot and look at all the books until I, surprisingly, find my favorite. It was my mom's copy, Dad kept it here. It still had all the pictures of the actors in it. I keep looking as Carl, Leyna and Rafe looked through the toys. I hear Lori come in and stand beside me.

"Anything good?"

"A lot actually." I show her the book I was holding "My mom's old one."

"The Outsiders? That's a good book." She smiles "I'm gonna look around and see."

"Okay. You two, bed now. Say your prayers." I lead Leyna and Rafe to their room. "You two okay in here?"

"Yeah, it'll be awesome to sleep on an actual couch tonight." Rafe says and Leyna simply nods.

"Can I talk to you?" I ask Leyna and she nods, following me out to the hallway. "I want you to know, that going to Atlanta was a mistake. I admit that. I'm sorry. I won't do anything you are uncomfortable with. Not anymore, I promise."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for acting like that. I was just scared you wouldn't come back." She looks down.

"Are you okay with me and Daryl?"

"Yeah. I like Daryl."

"Good. Me too. Just know, I won't do anything without your.. approval.. and if you have any questions or you're just curious. Ask me. Anything."

"Well, I have been about something..." She turns red and I nod "Do you two..."

"No, he.." I look around "He doesn't even take his shirt off around me."

"Right. Okay." She blushes

"Night. Sleep well." I kiss her forehead and then go into the next room.

Daryl's not in there when I go in so I climb into bed. I look down and his shirt had dropped when he left. I close my eyes and I hear him cuss from the bathroom. I hear the door from our bathroom open and I tense guiltily. He comes in and I try hard not to buckle and peek. I give in and open my eyes, my breath catches. I sit up and he holds his shirt up quickly.

"What is that...?" I throw my legs over the pull out bed and go over to him.

"Don't-Go-" He flinches back and I look up at him.

"After all we've been through, you don't trust me?" I murmur and he blinks.

"I just..."He hesitates and then drops his shirt.

"Who..." I softly touch his back, tracing the scars.

"After Merle left, my father started on me instead." He says and I wrap my arms around him from the back.

He wrapped his arms around mine and I lay my head sideways.

"You don't have to be shy about this anymore."I whisper

"I know."

"Promise..."

"Promise."He murmurs and turns around.

"Good. Will I have to remind you when you're less drunk?" I say, laughing.

"Prolly, but I might've left if I hadn't been like this. Be glad." He yawns and I giggle "Don't laugh at me!"

"C'mon. Get to bed." I help him over and lay him down. He seems to forget his shirt and I lay like I did last night, falling asleep almost instantly. I yawn and open my eyes to an unfamiliar place. I gasp and freak out. I crawl until I'm against a wall and I look for my knife, but I don't have it for some reason. I blink and I'm awake, aware now of where I am, but I'm still against the wall. The reason I wake up is because Daryl's shaking me gently.

"Hey, calm down! You're safe." He pulls me to his chest and I curl up against him.

"What's going on?" Rick comes in followed by Dale, T-Dog, Shane and Lori.

I get up, feeling awful shy at the moment and run into the bathroom, shutting the door.

"She freaked out, forgot where she was." I hear Daryl explain.

"You coming to breakfast?" I hear Lori ask and Daryl mutters an answer then they leave.

I hear a knock on the door and I hesitate.

"Hey, Caroline. Can I come in?" Lori asks softly.

"Sure." I say and put water on my face.

"You okay?"

"Sure." I open the drawer and find scissors.

I look up to the mirror curiously, then back at her.

"Can you feather my hair? I want it so its in the middle of my back."

It takes her twenty five minutes for her to get it perfect. I brush it, then fluff it out. It looks really good.

"Thank you, SO much." I grin.

"You're welcome." She smiles "This style fits you. Daryl will like it."

"Really?" I blush and she nods.

"You didn't even need to do this, he looks at you like you're a goddess."

"Pfft. Whatever." I turn and look at her "I don't know how well I'll handle seeing him after how I freaked out this morning."

"He's not going to judge you." She smiles and hugs me "If anything, he's concerned. We all are."

"I don't know what happened." I shake my head "It was like it was before he found us and took us in."

"I understand, we all have our moments." We walk out of the room after I change.

"I'm glad." We turn and I hesitate at the kitchen door.

"C'mon." She smiles and we go in.

Glen's over on one side of the table and he's groaning like no tomorrow.

"Don't let me drink that much ever again!" He says and we all laugh.

"Eat this, it'll help." T-Dog says and pours some scrambled eggs on a plate then hands it to Glen.

Daryl looks up from his plate and freezes, someone whistles. I blush and sit next to Rafe, eyeing Daryl who's still staring.

"Your hair looks good." Rafe grins and points under the table to Daryl.

"Thanks." I grin and we laugh.

"He's right." Leyna grins and sends a look that I don't understand to Daryl.

"What was that!" I whisper, looking at both of them.

"What was what?" She says, pretending to be oblivious.

"That look?"

"What look?"

"The one you gave to Daryl." I roll my eyes.

"I didn't give him a look!"

"Fi-"

"Your hair looks nice." Daryl says with a weird look on his face.

"Thanks." I send a glare to Leyna and get up.

"Everyone's headed to the computer room." He says and Rafe, Leyna and I stand up.

"Okay." I say and look up at him when he slips his hand into mine.

We go in and watch the video. I bite my lip and look away when the bullet goes through the head.

"I have to ask. What does that clock mean?" Dale points to the countdown.

"It counts down how much longer the generators last, until total decontamination starts."

"Decontamination?" Lori says, confused.

"Oh my gosh!" I put my face in my hands and pull Rafe and Leyna closer.

"What?" Rick asks.

"high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosive consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition which produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." Vi explains.

"It sets the air on fire." I rephrase.

" No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything." Jenner says, sitting in his chairs.

"Go, get all your stuff!" Rick yells and everyone's running but Jenner shuts the doors.

"Open the doors Jenner!"

"It's better this way." He answers and stays sitting.

"We don't want this!" Rick hollers

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

"What? You really said that? After your big talk?" Shane yells and Daryl paces angrily.

"I had to keep the hope alive, didn't I?" Rick says, glaring at Jenner.

"There's no hope. There never was." Jenner looks down.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't you, maybe not be here. But somebody somewhere-"

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea interrupts Rick.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner agrees.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here!" I say, tears falling and I try to comfort Rafe and Leyna, but they were still crying.

"One tiny moment - a millisecond. No pain."

"My sister and cousin don't deserve to die! They're just kids!" I cry and Daryl tries to put an axe in his head, but Rick and T-Dog stops him, then he goes back to trying to break the door.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, to be more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner says softly, trying to comfort us.

"Tell that to this!" Shane says with his gun pointed in Jenner's face "Open the damn doors!"

"Shane! Don't do this brother!" Rick says and tries to pull the gun away.

Shane screams and shoots the some of the computers making Rafe cry louder and curl up closer.

"Please! Let us out! Give us a chance!" Rick begs and Jenner sighs.

"I told you! When those doors close they stay close." The clock was now ten minutes.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I made a promise! To her! I failed, and now I die. It should've been her here. Not me. She made this place run, I just worked here! She would have the answer, not me."

"Give us a chance to live a little while longer! Please!" Rick pleads and Jenner puts his face in his hands, Daryl was still hacking at the wall.

"Daryl..." I say, getting tired of being brave. The kids aren't the only ones that needs comforting.

He comes over and kneels next to me.

"I trust you." He references last nights conversation.

"Ditto." I interlace our fingers and Jenner was still arguing with Rick.

"I can open these, the ones on the outside are yours to deal with. I can't." Jenner says and the door opens.

We run out and pause when Jacque announces she's staying. Andrea wants to stay too, Dale stays and the rest of us run out. They start beating the wall with the axe, chairs and they even try shooting it. Three more minutes.

"Here, I found this in the gun bag!" I say and hand Rick the grenade.

"Get down!" He triggers it and runs, the window busts open.

We get into our cars and see Andrea and Dale run out.

"DUCK!" Daryl hollers to me and we get down, hoping the others did too.

The building explodes and we wait a few minutes before sitting up again. Dale and Andrea get in the r.v. And we're hitting the road again.


	6. Chapter 6

***************Season 2 of TWD**********************

We ditch Daryls truck and decide to just use Merle's motorcycle. He keeps looking at me like he wants to ask something, but he's too afraid.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I ask quietly when they get in the car.

"Like what." He doesn't look at me.

"Ask me, and please don't do that." I grab his arm when he turns away.

"You remember that morning when you freaked?"

"Yea."

"Shane had scratches on his face."

"He did?" I see his face and shake my head "No, he didn't. Wasn't me, I promise. I would have told you."

The horns honk and I sigh.

"Good."

"Instead of distancing yourself, just ask okay? It drives me nuts."

"Okay." He got on and I wrap my arms around his waist and lay my head on his back.

The two hour trip is enjoyable. I keep my eyes open and enjoy the scenery. We get to a highway, and Daryl goes through to check if there's a way. It would be hard, but there is. We pull over and I get off, going over to take Rafe out. We go around and look through the cars. Rafe finds a shirt he likes so I put it in my bag.

"Here, can you fit?" I grin and point at a stroller.

He grins goofily and sits in it, breaking it. His but goes through the back of it and we laugh. Lori laughs and helps him out.

"Think you're too big, hon." She says.

"Get down! Under the cars!" Rick whispers loudly and I try to grab Rafe, but Lori pulls me under the car and Carl's under the one beside us with Rafe.

"He'll be fine." She whispers and I tense up.

I stare at him and he stares at me. I hope he knows how much I love him. My hair falls into my face and sticks to my face, because of the scared tears running down my face. It seems like all the walkers are gone and Rafe takes a peek.

"Rafe n-" Lori puts a hand over my mouth as a walker grabs his leg.

I freak out and so does he. He runs into the woods with two walkers on his tail. I sob and Rick quickly follows him. I come out from under the car and try to follow them, but Lori grabs me.

"Let go! I have to go!" I yank away from her and continue to run.

"Where's Daryl?" I hear Lori say frantically.

"Rick! Rafe!" I call and continue in, until strong arms grab me around my waist. "LET GO OF ME!"

"Like I said at the camp, you can't keep running away!" Shane says and I scowl, then start kicking him.

"Let go!" I growl and I'm suddenly dropped.

"Do not put your dirty hands on her!" Daryl scowls and I take the chance and start running into the woods.

I feel arms grab me again and I start crying again.

"Stop. We can't lose both of you." Daryl says and pulls me back to the road.

"That's my Rafe!" I cry and he hugs me, but I push him away and sit on the ground near the woods.

Rick comes back to get Daryl, Shane and Glen then goes back into the forest leaving me to pace. Leyna comes over to talk to me, but I don't quite hear her. When the sun starts to go down, they come back.

"You didn't find him?" I whisper and Daryl hugs me softly.

"We will. Can't find him in the dark." I close my eyes and everything goes black.

I wake up when the sun's up, but I don't want to get up. I feel something under me. I look, and it's Daryl. He watches me worriedly and I get up then curl into a ball.

"I promised." I whisper and he puts a hand on my knee.

"I'll find him."

"I promised." I whisper again, without realizing I was doing it.

"What?" He says and sits up.

"I told her I'd keep him safe." I stare at the wall.

"Who?"

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to him."

"He's not hurt. We'll find him."

"She made me promise. It was her only wish." I look at him "All she wanted. I failed her and him."

"It's not your fault."

Someone knocks on the door and Daryl goes out to talk to them. I climb out the window and watch the woods, pleading with God to bring him back to me. I convince myself that we'd find him and Daryl comes over.

"We're gonna gather a search party to look for him."

"I'm going."

"That's why I'm telling you. C'mon."

"Only people that've been trained with guns will get one. Me, Shane, Daryl and Caroline." Rick announces and Andrea groans, glaring at Dale. "But, everyone gets a knife, axe or shovel."

I pace while everyone's getting their weapon and Daryl watches me worriedly. When they're ready, Rick leads us in the woods.

"The trail we were following went cold." Daryl tells me and studies me like a bomb that's about to go off. I don't care, it's probably true.

He takes my hand and Leyna watches me sympathetically.

"He's good with the wilderness. He'll be fine." She squeezes my hand and whips around when the bells go off.

"That could be him, and if it isn't, he could be on his way there!" Rick says and I start in the direction of the bells.

"Wait!"Daryl says nearly grabbing my arm, but misses and they follow me toward the sound of the bells.

"This isn't it!" Shane says "There aren't any bells."

Glen goes over to the side of the church and turns them off, rolling his eyes.

"Automatic bells."

"He-He could still be inside, right?" I swallow and Rick nods.

"We'll look."

"I really appreciate this." I look at all of them "From all of you."

"He's one of us. We won't leave without him." Rick says and waits at the door, then nods at Shane to open the door.

There are three walkers in the church. Daryl hands me his crossbow and takes out one of them, Shane and Rick did the others. He takes his crossbow back and goes outside.

"Not here, let's keep going." Shane says.

I ignore him and go inside, kneeling at the alter. I fold my hands and pray out loud.

"What are you-"

"Leave her be." Lori interrupts and sits in the pew behind me.

I don't know how long I'm here, but I stand up and pass Daryl out the door.

"You guys should go back. Shane and I will keep looking. Daryl will take you guys back."

"Why can't Daryl go with you? He's the best tracker. I can take them back." I say quietly.

"Yeah, that'd be good." Rick agrees.

"Can I talk to you?" Daryl glances at me then he and Rick go over.

"What?"

"I don't quite trust her to herself." He whispers and I pretend not to hear. "I don't think any of the women could stop her if she tried."

"We could still use you. Glen can keep an eye on her."

"I got it."

"She wants you to go."

"Yeah I know. Like I said, I don't trust her."

"Okay. I understand. Do what you need to."

"Can I go?" Carl asks when they come back.

"Uh, sure." Rick says and Lori grimaces, but says nothing.

"I'm gonna stay be-"

"I know. I'm a bomb. I get it, just try harder next time." I push past him but he grabs my arm.

"Caroline."

"What?" I try to pull away.

"I'm doing this because I..." He drifts off and I look at him.

"You what?"

"'cause I feel for you the way, no one has ever felt for me."

"Not no one!" I rip my arm away "I've ALWAYS loved you and you didn't ever see it!"

"I saw it, I was just scared of it. I still am."

"Then go with them! I'll be fine. Glen won't take his eyes off me and Leyna still needs me."

"No. We need to go now."

"Fine."I wait for him to lead the way.

He looks at me helplessly and then slips his hand in mine. I look at him and feel guilty. Why did I feel guilty? He slings his crossbow over his other shoulder, then starts leading us through the woods. Daryl holds his arm up and we freeze.

"Tent." He sneaks up to it and tries to peak through, but can't see anything. "Call to him. Your voice should be the first he hears."

"Rafe? It's me, Caroline. Come out, love. Everyone's here, Leyna, Daryl, Glen, Lori and Andrea." I say softly and nothing happens.

Daryl went in and I chew my nail, hopefully. He comes back out, shaking his head. I turn and Lori hugs me comfortingly. We continue to walk back to the road when a gunshot scares all of us.

"What was that?" Lori says, with wide eyes.

"They probably just came across a walker." Glen says.

"They wouldn't waste bullets. Something happened." Lori says worriedly and I start shaking.

"Hey, everything is fine. I'm sure everything's fine." Daryl touches my arm gently "Let's get back."

We continue walking until we hear screaming and realize Andrea's missing. We run back and see a horse run up, with a girl whacking the head off the walker that's attacking Andrea.

"Lori? Carl's been shot. You need to come with me, Rick's with him." The girl says.

"Oh my gosh." Lori goes up and gets on the horse.

"Do you need help? I'm a nurse!" I inform the girl.

"Here's our address, come as quick as possible. This horse can't carry more than two. We can use the help." She says and rides in the opposite direction.

"I have to go!" I say and start running for the road, the farm's not far from it, in fact I went to school close to it.


	7. Chapter 7

"Wait up!" Daryl hollers and I hear them close behind.

I make it to the road and I grab my bag from Merle's motorcycle.

"Glen, can you drive? Dale!" I inform Dale of what's happening.

"Could you take T-Dog? He's not doing good."

"Of course." I nod and throw my bag in a car "Daryl, I need Merle's pills'. I never thought they'd prove useful, now we need them."

"You can't trust her!"

"How did she know Rick and Carl's name if I can't trust her!"

"You can't go!"

"Fine I'll get them myself!" I turn and grab the bag of medicine.

"Caroline! Stop for a moment and think this through!"

"I don't need to." Glen gets in and so does T-Dog.

"Why are you so adamant about this?" He grabs my wrist.

"I have to. It will keep my mind off Rafe and it will help me feel better. Please."

"Fine." He lets go "We'll stay here another night, then we'll move out there."

"I'm going now!" I get in the car and look out "I'll see you."

Glen speeds down the road to the farm and as soon as we get there, I grab the bag of meds and my personal bag, and help T-Dog up to the house.

"Did you lock the gate?" A voice asks.

"Yeah." Glen says and swallows. I recognize that look on his face.

"Good. He's in here." the girl looks at me and opens the door.

"Okay." I nudge Glen and whisper "Ask her name, lover boy."

He turns red and narrows his eyes, but I go inside before he can say anything. I look around and I see an older man come up.

"You're the nurse I presume?"He asks and I nod.

"I'm Caroline." I hold out my hand politely. "I've been a nurse for about two years and I have some training in doctoring."

"Good. It could prove useful. I'm Hershel." He takes it and shakes it. "The wound he has isn't clean. The bullet broke up into six pieces. I got one out, but the boy was squirming. As you know, I could nick a vain with him squirming. Which, of course, would kill him there. Shane and Otis went to get stuff so we can put him under. Rick's been giving him blood, but we need to do this soon, with or without the stuff."

"Okay. Where is he? What's his blood pressure." He takes me to the bedroom "Are you a doctor?"

"Veterinarian."

"Oh, you still have more experience than me." I take a deep breath and hug Lori. "He's going to be fine."

"I hope so." She wipes her face and I sit next to Carl.

"I'm here to help, not just Hershel but you." I smile comfortingly.

"With everything that's going on, with Rafe missing, I hope you're okay with this."

"Are you kidding?" I shake my head "Daryl didn't want me to come, but it'll be good for me. Get my mind off him for the time being. This is where I feel comfortable. Normal."

"I appreciate it."

"I appreciate you being here for me." I stand up when Rick comes in.

"You're-You're here." He stutters and I put my hands up to him prepared to catch him. He was awful wobbly.

"Careful, Rick. I take it you gave a lot of blood?"

"S-Some."

"Twice." Lori corrects and I turn to him alarmed.

"That's a lot. Sit, eat. I'll go see if I can make you something." I have him sit next to Lori then go out of the room "Hey, could I bother you for a sandwich or something? He doesn't look too good."

"Sure." A middle aged lady says "I'll bring it to him"

"Thanks." I brush the hair out of my face and sit with my face in my hands.

"Hey, you okay?" Glen asks putting a hand on my back.

"I'll live. You?" I say quietly.

"I'm not the one who's son got shot or cousin got chased off by walkers. You look pale."

"I'm fine. I'll be better when we save Carl's life."

"You seem sure of that."

"I am. I'm doing what I loved." I look at him and smile "Did you get her name?"

I scoot over so he could sit in the chair next to me. He was like my brother.

"Yeah. Maggie." He blushes

"Ahh, my asian brother has a crush huh?" I nudge him goofily and he opens his mouth but Hershel finds me.

"We should get started. We don't have the stuff, but it's too late. We need to get started now."

"All right. We'll continue this when we're done." Glen nods.

"Of course. Go save a life."

"Just like the old days." I follow Hershel into the room and stop when I hear a car coming.

"Just in time." Hershel says and we join Lori and Rick outside.

"Here!" Shane hands Hershel the bag.

"Where's Otis?" Hershel asks with a concerned look on his face.

"Didn't make it." Shane says and I narrow my eyes. Never trusted him. Never, and my gut told me it wasn't an accident.

"No one tells Patricia. I need both of them." Hershel says looking at all of us.

"Okay." Maggie says with tears rolling down her face.

I rub her back comfortingly and she looks at me, curiously. I follow Hershel into the room and we start the long hours of surgery. The daylight started to shine through the window and I hear cars come into the farm. I stay focused and finally after a few minutes, we're finished.

"Thank you for your help." Hershel says gently squeezing my arm.

"No thank you. I needed this. I lost my cousin today. He got chased off by two walkers. We're still looking for him, but it's good to get the worry halfway gone for a while." I follow him out and see Lori and Rick stand up. "We're done. He's doing good. Thanks to Dad here."

"He wouldn't have made it without you Rick. If you excuse me, I have to talk to Patricia." Hershel nods at them and goes into the kitchen.

"I heard cars..." I trail off when Daryl comes into the house.

Rick and Lori look at each other, then leave the room. I stay where I am, unsure of how he's feeling at the moment.

"Daryl... I..." I step toward him and gently hug him "We saved him though. He's going to be okay. T-Dog too. I'm sorry how I left."

"'s alright. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I'm going to go look now." He says and I hold tighter.

"I want to go, but I need to stay here." I let go and he nods.

"You don't need to go anyway. I'll be fine on my own."

"Be safe." I squeeze his hand and go outside with him.

"Always am." He heads for the stables and I sit on the steps.

I watch him ride into the woods and I go stand next to Dale. He looks at me and smiles.

"Good to see you. How's the boy doing?"

"Good. We got all the fragments out and he has a really good shot."

"It's really brave of you to do this while you're dealing with losing Rafe. We'll find him and no one wants to leave until we do."

"I just wish I could know he took his knife. It would give me some reassurance. I haven't seen it, but-"

"He had it. Or he did earlier that morning. He was showing it to Carl."

"I hope so. I'm going to go check on Lori. See if she needs anything, Rick too. I hope he didn't go off too?"

"Hershel nor Lori or Shane would let him." He says Shane's name like Daryl does.

"You..Dislike Shane?"

"I don't want to get into it."

"We don't either. He, uh, tried to sleep with me." I turn red "I told him I was spoken for, he still continued. Daryl and Merle showed up in time."

"I saw him aiming for Rick's head before we went to the CDC."

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't know what it was about, but he did it. You probably will think I'm crazy, but I think he killed Otis."

"I know he did. You didn't see him last night, he had a major guilt face on."

"Daryl's suspicious too?"

"I didn't ask him. He went to look for Rafe."

"He was worried about you. Barely slept. None of us did."

"Didn't sleep at all. I was in surgery all night. Got my mind off things so I trust him to find Rafe. If anyone finds him, Daryl will."

"You should sleep."

"I can't. I'll wait until Daryl gets back, he can put me to sleep."

"Um..." His eyes were wide and I turn red.

"I mean, he has this trick where he'll rub my back and make me fall asleep. It's a life saver."He smiles in relief. "Even if I wanted to, he wouldn't."

"Oh." Then someone calls him and he leaves.

"Where's Glen?" I call to Andrea.

"Went off with Maggie on a run. They left after we closed the well off due to the walker."

"Couldn't you get the walker out?"

"Tried- Broke in half and fell in the water."

"Oh, okay." I go back inside the house and sit on one of the chairs.

I sit in the chair and fall asleep, unexpectedly. The next thing I hear is Andrea yelling walker. I jump up, now awake and run outside and jump at the gunshot. I race next to Andrea and freeze when I see who was limp in their arms.

"I'm gonna KILL YOU!" I yell at Andrea and lunge.

Rick catches my waist and grunts.

"He's okay! Just grazed him!" Dale says and I gag at Daryl's smell.

"Looks like he hurt himself. Get him to one of the bedroom's so I can stitch it." I take Daryl's other arm and help Rick carry him.

It feels like forever until we finally get him to the bedroom. Hershel brings me the equipment I need and I thank him.

"I can do this..." I say and Rick nods, but stays "You can go. I got this. He won't want you here. Trust me."

"But-"

"GO!" I snap and he puts his hands up, then leaves. "What does it take to make people listen around here?"

I shake my head and gently take Daryl's shirt off. I gasp loudly when he grabs my wrists tightly.

"Daryl, let go!" I say quietly "It's me. I'm not going to hurt you.

He looks at me and let's go.

"Thanks. What happened?" He takes his shirt off the rest of the way nervously. "They're not going to come in."

"Fell down mountain after stupid horse bucked and got an arrow in my waist." He says and puts his hand under the pillow.

"Got yourself pretty bad. We need to clean you off before I dress it. C'mon." I help him up and flinch when he groans. "Do you want to shower by yourself or with me?"

"Don't matter." He grabs onto the tub and pulls the curtain, then throws his pants out.

"Gosh, these are so dirty. You should let me wash them every once in a while." He grunts no and I roll my eyes "Stubborn. I'll do it sometime."

I turn while he puts his pants on and then help him back to the bed where he put his arm under the pillow. I stitch him up carefully and flinch whenever he did. When I'm done, I lay my head on him gently and stand up quickly when a knock hits the door.

"I'll get it." I say and open the door after he pulls the sheet over his shoulder.

"Is he done?" Lori asks quietly, not even trying to peek like normal people do. Rick must have warned her.

"Just finished."

"You want to come eat? I made dinner for them. You need the food." She decides and goes out.

"Hey." I lay on the bed facing him. "Lori's making me go eat."

"That's so terrible." He rolls his eyes.

"So is falling off a mountain, dork." He raises an eyebrow and I grin "I'll bring you some food after."

He nods and I go out, reluctantly. I sit next to Lori at the table and suppress tears. It reminds me of all the thanksgivings we used to have at my Aunts house. I eat slowly and look up at Glen. I see Maggie hand him a piece of paper and I narrow my eyes at him, making him turn red. He mouths shh and I shake my head.

"What is that?" I mouth when Maggie's not looking.

"Nothing." He mouths back.

"Doesn't seem like nothing!" I mouth back and smirk.

I get up and take my dish into the kitchen then make a new plate.

"What's between you and Glen?" Dale asks and I jump.

"Did he tell you if something was going on between him and Maggie? She passed him a note."

"Yeah. They did it in the store." I cough startled.

"They WHAT?" I say a little too loudly and blush when they look in here.

"Yep. I told him it would upset Hershel. How's Daryl?"

"I'm going to have a talk with him. He's okay, bringing this to him. I'll probably lay down with him. He got himself pretty bad."

"Oh okay." He smiles and I hug him gently.

"Thanks for being concerned. I'm just glad Andrea didn't get him." I scowl.

"She was just trying to help."

"She tries too hard. Could you open the door?" I ask and he follows me to Daryl's door. "Thanks."

"No problem."

I put the tray down and touch his back.

"Dinner's here. I'll be back. Going to check on Leyna." He nods and starts eating. "Slowly, don't want you to get sick."

He mumbles something about how I worry too much and I roll my eyes, then go out. I see Leyna talking to Rick and I go out.


	8. Chapter 8

"How's Carl?" I ask Rick.

"He's good. Thanks to you and Hershel."

"Good." He nods at Leyna, then goes into the house. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. You?" She studies me worriedly.

"Better. We'll find him." I swallow and she hugs me.

"We will. This is Rafe, not a normal boy. He knows a lot about the forest and wilderness as he used to call it. He's smart, and will survive."

"I know." I yawn.

"Go sleep. We'll go look tomorrow. After Shane leads a training party."

"Training party?"

"He's going to train people how to use guns. I'm going, if that's all right."

"Is Rick or Glen going?"

"Rick, Carl and Andrea are going."

"Then, yes it's okay."

"Thanks. Sleep tight."

"I'll try." I walk back to Daryl's room and lay on the bed looking at the ceiling.

"You okay?" He murmurs.

I turn on my side facing him"Shane says Otis died of an accident. He's limping."

"Mmm. You don't think it was an accident."

"I don't know what to think. Am I crazy?"

"No. It's one hundred percent possible."

"Dale agrees."

"What did you tell him?" He's still eating.

"He told me he thinks he did it, then I told him everything. He said Shane pointed a gun to his head. Rick didn't see, but he aimed." Daryl finishes and lays down facing me.

"What are we gonna do?"

"At the moment, nothing." I shrug "He's not our problem."

"Until he comes onto you again."

"He's not doing it yet, let's just stay back."

"It won't be as easy for me to stop him. Merle won't be here."

"Makes me want to trade Shane for Merle. Shane for Rafe any day. I'm pretty sure Lori and Dale would like that."

"Rafe would come first." I study his face. "You've got that look on again."

I realize I'm biting my lip. "I guess so."

"What is it?" He raises his eyebrow.

"Do you want to kiss me? I mean... I wanted to know if you've ever wanted to. Never mind." I turn red and flip onto my other side. He stays silent.

My heart pounds and I close my eyes. I feel myself falling asleep, I fight it at first and then let it take over.

I open my eyes and squint because of the light. It's morning, I think. I look over at Daryl who's watching me with a pained look on. I groan and rub my head, then stand up.

I help him up and we walk outside with my arm in his so I can keep him standing.

"I'll get you something to eat." I set him down and go into the house.

When I go back out, he's gone.

"Where's Daryl?" I look up at Andrea.

"He went toward the stables."

"Oh my gosh. DARYL DIXON!" I turn and run toward the stables.

I get there just in time.

"What are you doing?" I say and grab his arm

"I'm going after Rafe."

"You can't, you aren't healed. C'mon, let's go back to the house!" He drops the saddle and groans in pain. "You okay?" I help him up and he pushes me away.

"Stop! Stupid bitch!" I freeze and his eyes widen.

"Fine. Go get yourself killed. See if I care." I turn and run into the house, ignoring Hershel.

I run into Dale and he looks at me worriedly. I suppress tears until he hugs me and I let it out. When I'm done, I get up and go outside. I go into the field and sit in the grass. I lay down and stare at the sky. Tears prickle my eyes again and I close my eyes. I hear someone come up and lay beside me.

"Go away Daryl." I say and turn on my side.

"Daryl isn't here." Leyna says "Dale told me."

I start crying again and she hugs me.

"I'm the one that's supposed to comfort you, not the other way around." I say and sit up.

"Even the toughest people need to let their emotion out. Daryl does it different than most people, but he's stubborn and didn't want to admit you were right. That's why he lashed out. He didn't mean it, Car. He's mad at himself."

"Wise words. Did he put you up to it?" She shakes her head.

"He feels bad, honestly. Go talk to him."

"I will." I look out into the woods, "He'll love it here."

"Yes he will." She looks down "Too bad we can't stay."

"What?" I stand up.

"That's what Rick says. He's talking to Hershel though. We have to leave when Carl's better and we find Rafe."

"Oh."I hesitate.

"Go." She nods and I jog towards the house.

I get into Daryl's room, but he's not here. I lay on the bed and close my eyes.

"Caroline!" Daryl shakes me softly and I look at him.

"Yeah, um, I'm up."

"I'm sorry about earlier in the stables."

"It's okay. You wanted to look for him."

"Got you something." He puts a flower on the side table.

"A flower." He's not that into romance...

"It's a Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for your little boy."

"Thank you." Tears fill my eyes and I stroke the petal.

"I really am sorry."

"It's fine. Really."

"We're all going out tomorrow." He helps me up "Let's move to our tent."

I nod and follow him to our tent with my bag in my hand. I make him lay down and Andrea comes in. I give her a dirty look and then go back to organizing the bags.

"I wanted to apologize for shooting you."

"'s okay. She's more angry than me." He points at me and I roll my eyes.

"I am sorry. To both of you." She glances at both of us then starts to leave.

"Andrea." She looks at Daryl.

"Shoot me again? You best pray I'm dead."

She leaves quickly and I look at Daryl, suppressing a laugh. It was getting dark.

"You should get some rest. We've had a long day, I'll bring you something to eat. I'm going to check on Carl." He groans, but gets in the cot.

I jog up to the house and into Carl's room. He was alone.

"Hey, Kiddo. How're you feeling?" I sit on the bed with him.

"I've been better. Mom says I can get up tomorrow. So we can eat breakfast with you guys."

"That's good. You scared the crap out of us."

"Thank you, by the way." He smiles.

"I had to pay you back somehow. You were Rafe's only friend he's ever had. After me of course." I wink and he looks down"We'll find him. I know we will."

"Shane doesn't think so."

"Shane is... scared. He doesn't want anyone else to get hurt."

"He doesn't seem scared."

"We handle being scared differently."

Lori came in with tears and I stand up.

"You okay?"

"I need to talk." She nods and I follow her to the fence.

"What's the matter?"

"Can you promise to not tell anyone?"

"I promise. What is it?"

"I'm... Pregnant." My eyes widen.

"Who's baby?"

"Rick. Biological or not. It will be his."

"Okay. You're keeping it right?"

"I need you to tell me the types of abortion pills Glen and Maggie can get."

"I-" I rub my face, I don't agree with abortion. It's a form of murder, but I would be signing our death sentence if I didn't. "I'll give you the list later. I need to think about this. You know how I feel, especially since I can't..."

"I know. I just don't know what else to do." I hug her gently.

"Talk to Rick. He deserves to know. I won't say anything. And I'm not going to force you, but as your friend and a nurse, I very strongly recommend talking to him."

"You sound like Glen."

"Great minds think alike. We should be siblings." I look over at camp. "Go rest. Did you eat?"

"I did." She looks down "Thanks. You have enough to worry about than this."

"It's okay. Go rest." I stare at the moon and wonder if he was looking at it too.

I go back to the tent where Daryl is.. I lay next to him.

"You kay?" He murmurs and I hesitate, should I tell him?

"I'm fine." I say and fall asleep as quickly as I have been.

The next morning, I wake up after Daryl again. He's not in the tent though. I go out and take a plate, reluctantly from Lori. She nods that she ate, then I go sit next to Daryl.

"Guys?" Glen says, messing with his hat nervously.

I see Daryl continue to eat.

"There's walkers in the barn." I drop my fork and Daryl looks up from his plate.

I follow everyone to the barn and Shane goes on another rage. I stay beside Daryl.

"C'mon Rick! This is NOT safe!"

"This is NOT our land! It's Hershel! Let me talk to him!"

"Is that what we're doing? I don't know WHAT we're doing! We need to get our heads out of the clouds! We aren't going to find that little boy and we need to get rid of these walkers!" Shane yells and Daryl scowls.

"We just found some leads two days ago! We'll find him!"

"A lead?" I say confused.

"Yeah, I found his knife in a walker."

"Why didn't you tell me!"

"Because I was holed up yesterday."

"You could have TOLD me!" I put my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry. I'll show you." I hesitate, then follow him to the tent.

He pulls the knife out and I take it. I might have saved his life. I put it in my pocket.

"I haven't been completely honest last night. You have to promise to keep your mouth shut tight." I look around. Everyone's scattered.

"I promise"

"Something did happen." I look down.

"What?"

"Lori's...Pregnant." I whisper and he looks up alarmed.

"Does Rick know?"

"Not yet hence the Promise."

"Oh."

"Caroline? Can you help me with something?" Dale asks, looking flustered.

"I'll talk to you later." I study Daryl's face, then follow Dale out. "What is it?"

"Shane and I got in an argument, I need you to have my back while I hide the guns."

"Okay, good. Thinking about doing that myself."

"I need you to make an excuse. Glen knows when I'm lying and I don't want him to see where we go."

"Got it." We go to the R.V. Where Glen's taking watch.

"Glen?" I call and he looks down "Can you go get us some water? Dale and I are going to clean the R.V."

"Okay. Will you take watch?"

"Of course." He leaves and I nod at Dale "He's gone. Hurry, won't be long until someone see's us."

We walk into the woods quickly. I have my gun in my pocket and Dale has his over his shoulder. The wind blows my hair into my face. I take watch and hide behind a bush. I hear a branch break and Shane come up.

"I thought you'd be here. Give me the guns."

"No, I don't want you ruining everything for everyone." He looks in my direction with his eyes. I stay hidden.

"Dale, shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns." He steps forward and I stand up aiming my gun for his head.

"Are we gonna have to shoot you? Do we have to kill you? Is that what it's gonna take?" Dale lifts his up.

"Eh. Yeah. That's what it's gonna take." He steps forward with his chest on the gun.

"This is where you belong, Shane." Picking the guns up and puts his hand up at me. I lower my hands reluctantly.

"How's that, Dale?

" This world, what it is now, this is where you belong. And I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that's okay. 'Cause at least we can say when the world goes to shit, we didn't let it take me down with it." He slams the bag into Shane's chest.

"Fair enough." Shane takes them and goes back.

I glance at Dale and he nods. I run back to the farm and watch Shane hand them out. I make it there when he hands one to Daryl. He looks at me with a smirk. I grind my teeth and Daryl scowls at him.

"What the Hell!" Shane cusses at Rick when he see's them with two other walkers.

Daryl and I follow everyone to the barn.

"This is the condition for us staying here!" Rick explains looking at Lori.

"Looks like she told him." Daryl mutters to me under his breath "If something goes down, stay behind me. Got it?"

I nod.

"These people are sick-"

"These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us." He pulls his gun out " Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you something. Can a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?"  
>He shoots the walker in the chest.<br>"No! Stop it!" Rick yells  
>" That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, can they just take that? Why is it still coming?" He shoots it again "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" He shoots it again.<br>"Shane, enough!"

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." He kills the walker then heads to the barn. Daryl looks at me with wide eyes as if for permission. I see Glen do it also.  
>"Hershel! Take this!" Rick tries to hand Hershel the handle of the walker.<p>

Shane begins to beat the lock off and Rick continues to holler at Hershel.

"Don't do this, brother!" He pleads and Shane finally opens the doors.

Daryl pushes me back and aims the gun Shane gave him. I see Lori and Carl behind Rick with worried faces on. Walkers come out of the barn and gun shots ring out. My heart pounds and the walkers finally stop coming out. I step closer to Daryl and He puts his hand up when we hear rustling in the barn. He drops his gun when he sees him. Tears fill my eyes and sobs rack my body as a walker who resembles Rafe comes out. I start running toward him but Daryl grabs my waist.

"let GO! I have to help him! Daryl!" I sob and everything stops.

Leyna came over and squeezed my arm, crying too. I continue to struggle to get to him.

"Rafe!" I cry and the sickly green eyes settle on Rick, who's aiming a gun at his head.


	9. Chapter 9

I hear the gunshot and I get free, running over to him. He looks a lot like Rafe, but it's not him. My instincts told me that. I breathe in relief.

"It's not him." I whisper to Rafe "I know it. Different clothes. It's not him."

"Yes it is, Car. I'm sorry." He hugs me and I push him away.

"It's NOT HIM!" I yell at him and everyone's looking at me like I'm insane.

"Caroline please..." Leyna steps toward me and I back away.

"Why don't you believe me?" I blink at him and he looks at me with a pained face. "Fine."

I run into the R.V. And stare out the window. I stay like that for I don't know how long. Everyone thinks I don't know what I'm talking about. I hear the door open and someone come in, but they stay silent. I look over and it's Daryl. He's watching me carefully and I look out the window again, we stay like this for a few hours.

"Caroline. We're having a funeral for Rafe. You coming?" Lori says softly and I look at her.

"That's not my little boy." I say and she leaves, Daryl hesitates then follows her.

I continue to look out the window, I have to make them believe. I hear someone else come in. Dale sits in front of me.

"I've known you since before this whole thing went down. You've been there for me since my wife died. I've watched you with that boy, he's like your son and you're his mother in every way it counts. My sister, has children and when she had her first, she had instincts that told her he needed help. No one believed her, but she took him to the hospital and turns out she was right." He takes my hand "You have those. For Leyna and Rafe. I believe you. If you say it's not him, it's not."

"You're the first." I look at him "Thank you."

"Your welcome."

"Where'd Daryl go?"

"He moved his tent out farther in the fields-"

"Caroline! I need your help!" Maggie says worriedly.

"What is it?"

"It's Beth, she passed out and she won't wake up."

"Show me!" I say and I run beside Maggie to the house.

I put my hand up to her forehead, she's not running a fever that I could tell.

"She'll get dehydrated soon, we need Hershel and an I.V."

"Rick and Glen went to find him. Should be back soon." Lori informs me.

"Okay. It's not critical yet, but I need Hershel to confirm she'll be okay." I say and set the I.V. up. "If anything changes, let me know. Someone needs to stay by her side also."

"Okay. I'm not planning to leave anyway." Maggie says and holds Beth's hand.

I go out of the house, bumping into Leyna.

"Hey. You okay?" She looks at me sympathetically.

"I'm fine." I say and pass her, heading toward the camp Daryl set up for himself.

He's cleaning his arrows when I get there. I put my hands on my hips and he doesn't look up.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Being alone."

"Why?" I can't help but feel hurt.

"Cause I don't want to be with people."

"Fine." I turn and walk back to the farm with tears streaking my face.

"It's getting late." Lori says nervously and I look back at Daryl. He's watching me now.

"I know. They'll be fine." I sit on the ground and face the opposite direction of Daryl.

I stay there until the sun starts to go down.

"Have you seen my mom?" Carl asks and I shake my head.

"Is she missing?" I stand up

"Yeah."

"Has someone asked Daryl?"

"No."

"I'll get him." I hug him "She's alright."

He goes back to the house and I go out to Daryl's camp.

"Have you seen Lori? She's missing."

"Yeah, she came here wanting me to go make sure Rick and Glen are okay."

"And?"

"Told her it isn't my job to look for them. Wasn't my job to look for Rafe."

"It wasn't him! No one told you to look for him." He scowls and turns to his tent.

"You done interrogating me now?"

"Fine. Maybe Shane will help. Or maybe, I'll go off by myself!"I turn and jog back to the house without hearing a word he says.

"Did you find her?" Andrea says and I shake my head.

"Shane! Daryl says she came to him and asked him to go after the boys, but he said no. I'm afraid she went after them."

"I'll go after her."

"I'll stay here, in case he decides to leave." I scowl in Daryl's direction. Why is he doing this to me?

"Okay." Shane nods and gets in his car, speeding off in the direction Rick and Glen did.

"Why don't we all go inside." I put my hand on Carl's back. After Rick, Shane, Hershel and Daryl, I'm in charge.

"You think she's okay?"

"I know she is." I smile and he sits by the door.

I hesitate before going into Daryl's old room and lean against the door frame.

"He doesn't hate you." Dale says and rubs my back comfortingly.

"Could have fooled me." I say quietly and lay my head back "What am I going to do if I'm wrong about Rafe and Daryl keeps acting like this, or worse he leaves. I lost Merle and I don't know what would happen to Leyna and I."

"Everyone here loves you. I'm pretty sure Hershel would let you stay here. Especially after helping with Beth."

"How is she, by the way?"

"She's good, still not speaking but she's okay."

"Good." I rub my arms "I wonder where I'll sleep tonight."

"You're welcome in the R.V. Or you could sleep in Leyna's tent."

"Okay." I slide down to sitting.

"He'll get over it. He does love you, guys like him aren't very forward with their feelings."

"I normally see through it, with Merle, I could. But Daryl... One minute he's all comforting and the next he's staying as far away from me as possible." He sits down with me.

"You're probably one of the reasons we're still here. We need a head like yours. You're not only caring, but you're smart. Even strength has to bow down to wisdom."

"Thanks, but that doesn't help with my love life." I laugh and he grins.

"It's not my specialty."

"Same here." We stand up when we hear car doors slam "Lori!"

I go out and hug her.

"You okay? You're bleeding! The ba-" I stop and she was looking around.

"Where's Rick?" she looks at Shane.

"He's not here." I say quietly.

"You lied?" She glares at Shane

"You wouldn't have come if I told the truth. I needed to make sure you and the baby were safe."

My eyes widen and I look over at Carl. He's trying to work it out.

"You're having a baby?" Carl asks and I look up, Daryl's making a fire.

"Yes, baby." She sighs and puts an arm around him, leading him to the house.

I'm alone, finally. The crickets chirp and the moon's full and over the tree. I climb a tree and lay down on a large branch. It'll hold me. I open my eyes to the noise of a car. I jump down, wondering how I didn't fall off in my sleep. I freeze when I see a boy in the back of the car. It couldn't be. No, I decide. It's not him. I try to breathe and turn, walking quickly the opposite direction. I have to keep this from Daryl, he'd go crazy.

"Caroline!" I hear them call, but I continue walking. I'm about to hyperventilate.

"Caroline!" I feel Shane grab my arm.

"DO NOT TOUCH ME!" I rip my arm away and Daryl shows up, unfortunately.

"Do I need to deal with him?" Nice to know he still cares.

"I'm fine. Go back into hiding!" I scowl at him and go back to the house, welcoming Leyna and Dale's hug.

"Hershel needs your help. He's helping a boy he found with Rick and Glen, he'll explain it." I nod and reluctantly join Hershel in surgery.

My hands are shakier then they normally are. Hershel keeps looking at me worriedly. He'll tell Rick, Rick'll ask me and everyone's going to find out. I try to steady them, unsuccessfully. About two hours later, we're done. I go out and listen to them argue. They finally decide on dropping him off somewhere and leaving. No one will know. I walk over to where Daryl is and look at him.

"I'm sorry."

"What're you doing?"

"Keeping an eye on you." I say quietly.

"Ain't you a peach!"

"I'm not going to let you pull away. You've earned your place."

"If you spent half of your time focusing on Rafe, instead of sticking your nose in everyone else's he'd still be alive!" He snarls.

"Go ahead."

"Go ahead, and what? Just go! I don't want you here!" I stay. "You're a real piece of work, Caroline! Whadd're you gonna do? Make this about my daddy? Or some crap like that? Pfft, you don't know Jack! You're afraid, cause you're all alone except for Leyna! You got no daddy, no cousin! You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem. Rafe wasn't MINE! All you had to do was keep an eye on him!" He raises hand and I flinch back, he freezes then I turn and leave. Tears are obviously falling now.

This one's shorter than the rest, but the next chapter you'll find out about how Caroline knows Randall:)


	10. Chapter 10

***** Few days later*****

I'm on the tree again, Rick and Shane took my problem away. I'll sleep better tonight. Or as better as it can get with this wedge between me and Daryl. I play with the knife that's Rafe's. I know somehow, he's still alive. I'll find him. If it means they won't look at me like I'm crazy. Everyone but my sister and Dale. I go to the RV And stand next to Dale. He's fixing the RV. Again. The wind's blowing like crazy, it feel's good in the heat.

"Did you know that boy?" Dale asks and my breath catches.

"What?" I stuff my hands in my pockets.

"The way you act when his name's mentioned, he do something to you?"

"Long time ago." I admit "It's something Daryl can't find out about. He'd be mad at the boy. Am I really that easy to read?"

"Yeah, for me. But I've known you a long time."

"I don't want to talk about it." I hand him a tool and he nods.

"Talk to him, when he gives up this rage." I glance over my shoulder. We haven't talked since he yelled at me.

"I'll try." I walk with Dale to the road when we hear the car.

Rick got out and Shane carry's Randall to the barn. Rick looks at me, disturbingly, then talks to Daryl. He glares at me like I need protection.

"Looks like our conversation's about to explode." Dale looks at me "If you need me to, you can go in the RV and I won't let them in."

"Can't hide forever. Thank you." I squeeze his arm and let my hair whip in my face. Shane, Rick, Daryl and Lori came over and my heart pounds.

"I'll stand by it, and you."

"Same here." I take a deep breath.

"Can we talk?" Rick says and looks at Dale.

"You can leave Dale." Shane says, rudely.

"He can stay!" I stop Dale "Anything you can tell him, you can tell me. I'm not afraid for him to hear."

"Bu-"

"It's fine, Shane." Rick says and turns back to me "You know this boy?"

"Knew." I correct

"Why didn't you tell us! I-" Shane scowls

"She must have a reason." Rick sighs

"I don't care! She should've told us-"

"Shut UP Shane!" Lori scowls

"I'm not talking, until he leaves." I turn and go into the RV.

"Caroline, we just want answers." Lori says softly.

"I'll give them to you, when he leaves."

"You'd rather Dale be with you?" Shane says with distaste.

"At least he doesn't go around sleeping with every woman he lays eyes on! And tries something when she doesn't want to!" I grind my teeth and Rick argues with Shane while Dale's next from me.

"Rick will talk to him, we can just talk, you, me, Rick, Daryl and Dale." Lori says comfortingly.

"We sent him to cool off." Rick says then sits next to Lori.

Daryl sits on the counter, curious and livid at the same time.

"Now. You said you knew him?"

"Yes. I did." My heart pounds again and I look at Dale, he nods reassuringly.

"From where?"

"He uh.." I glance at Daryl "He's my ex-boyfriend."

I look down at the table.

"Go on." Dale says softly.

"There's more?" Daryl says, obviously angry.

"When was he with you and how long?"

"College. We only dated a few months. Long enough for him to, uh, get comfortable with me." I struggle to not scream, I'm about to hyperventilate.

"Did he..." Daryl trails off, looks at my face and then goes out.

"Follow him, make sure he doesn't do anything." I stand up and Rick follows him. I look at Dale and then Leyna walks in.

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy, according to Daryl!"

"Rick wants a meeting with you, Daryl, Dale, Shane, T-Dog and Hershel."

"Okay." I go out the door and sit on a chair, away from everyone.

Rick fills them in on everything.

"Daryl's already volunteered to interrogate the boy. Then, when we have information we'll decide what to do with him." Then, he goes out. I look at Daryl. Interrogate. Sounds like something worse.

He looks at me and then goes out.

********************Next Day********************

I pace, Daryl's in the barn with Randall and I'm scared of what he's doing. Dale and Leyna are watching me, so is Shane. I see Daryl come out and my stomach lurches.

"He says he has about thirty men. Women and kids too. They would come. Wouldn't just kill the men, first they'd make them watch the women go through crap." He looks at me and I look down, letting my hair make a wall.

"Is that all?"

"He likes to gloat about college." He passes me and I close my eyes. Leyna was rubbing my back.

I take a plate of food from Lori and eat slowly. Dale comes over and kneels next to me.

"They want to kill him. I know it's not my place to ask and he's put you through crap, but..."

"You want me to stand up for him."

"Your vote MEANS something to them! You saved Carl's life. Daryl says that this group is broken, but we can fix it."

"Dale, I told you I'll stand by you. I'm here for you, and no it's not right to kill someone. Even if he did..." I look at him and stand up "If you'll excuse me I'm going to go talk to Daryl."

I pick up a towel, wet it and walk over to where Daryl is. Carl's talking to him, but when Daryl sees me, he gets up. Carl stalks away.

"You get what you wanted?" I hand Daryl the towel "Approval? Thanks? Revenge? Couldn't hit me so you beat up a kid?"

"He ain't no kid. He'd do a lot more than hit you if he had the chance again."

"Is that what this is about?"

"What do you want me to do? Huh? I don't need this." He starts walking away

"Don't pretend like you don't care! You want our relationship back? Take it! Every kind and smart thing you said take it all back I don't care, I've lost worse. But don't sit back here and tend to your bloody fist and pretend you don't care! I'm sick of it!" I scowl and walk away.

I pass Shane and Rick, going into my tent. I zip the door shut and someone knocks.

"Who is it?"

"It's Glen."

"Oh, Glen, come in." I wipe my face, I haven't talked to him much.

"You okay? Saw you storming from Daryl, you two still arguing?"

"He's the stubborn one. I don't know. It's complicated." I sit on the ground.

"I'm going to the store, do you need or even just want anything?"

"I'm good." I smile and follow him out "You two have fun."

"What do you..." He turns red "Oh no we-"

"Isn't that how you found out about the walkers in the barn?" I raise my eyebrow

"I'm going to go now."

"Don't get her-"

"I WON'T!" Glen turns red and jogs over to his horse.

I glance back at Daryl, who seems conflicted. I groan and sit next to Leyna by the tents. She looks curious so I explain my argument with Daryl. She smiles and squeezes my hand.

"It'll get better."

"I hope." I fidget with Rafe's knife. "I'm glad I got him to talk to me that night. I'm worried about him though."

We walk the perimeter, to make sure no walkers come. We have no trouble, big surprise. We hear Glen and Maggie come back so we head back. When we get in sight, my breath catches because of who's with them. I don't even hesitate to run towards him.

(You won't BELIEVE who it is. Sorry,couldn't part with this character. :) even shorter,but I had to keep you waiting ;) )


	11. Chapter 11

I don't even hesitate to run towards him. I hug him tightly when I get to him.

"Glory, thank God you're okay, Rafe. They thought you were dead and I didn't believe that you were! I knew you were okay and here you are!"I cry and Daryl comes up and freezes. Now, instead of me being the humiliated one, they are. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just hungry."

"Where'd you find him?" I pull his face away from my chest and look at him. He's dirtier than normal. "Let's go get you something to eat."

"We found him getting food in the market. He looked glad to see us."Glen smiles and pats Rafe's shoulder.

"C'mon, love. Let's go get you food." We go into the house and Hershel checks to make sure Rafe is healthy, then he eats, or inhales, the food Patricia makes.

"Glen." I motion for the door to him and Maggie.

They follow me out and I fold my arms.

"I would like to thank you." Tears fill my eyes "For saving my little boy. It's a debt that I will never be able to repay."

"We're glad he's still alive. You knew all this time and no one would believe you." Maggie hugs me tightly "You helped with Beth and in my eyes, you don't have a debt."

"In my eyes I do." I hug Glen "I'm not taking my eyes off him for more than five minutes."

"I'm not either." Daryl says behind me.

"Daryl!" I jump and look up at him.

"It's time." He looks at Glen "We're deciding what to do with Randall."

I stand next to Dale with my arms around Rafe. As I said, I stand by Dale. No one does until the end when Andrea finally gives in and stands with us.

"You're right, this group is broken." Dale says, touching Daryl's arm before going out.

"Did you get what you want Shane? Way to prove you actually have feelings." I scowl and start to pass Daryl, but freeze and our eyes lock.

When the moments gone, I go out with Rafe by my side.

"What's wrong with Daryl?" Rafe asks and sits on the ground. "I like Maggie. She's nice. Patricia too."

"He was just upset he didn't find you." I explain the barn. "Like I said, I knew it wasn't you. Yes, The girls are wonderful."

"I tried to find my way back. I couldn't."

"It's not your fault." I hug him again. I can't seem to do it enough.

"I know I-" I heard screaming. "Get inside the house!"

I follow the sound of screaming and see Daryl standing by Dale. Beside him was a dead walker. Daryl sees me and catches me before I fall.

"No!" I sob "No, God, please!"

Everyone's here by now. I push Daryl away and hug Dale.

"You'll be okay, you'll be okay. Just like Rafe!" But I didn't have the feeling in my stomach

"Please, Dale!" I cry and Daryl rubs my back, I take his hand, he's in pain. "He's in pain, Daryl..."

"Do you want me to?"

"He won't hurt anymore." I look down at Dale, who's watching me " I want to do it."

"Here..." Daryl hands me his hand gun and I try to pull the trigger, but another round of sobs rack my body.

"Daryl, please..." I cry and Daryl takes the gun.

"Good-Bye, brother." Daryl says and I close my eyes before the gun shot rings out.

I start sobbing again and Leyna wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me. She stands up and walks away, but I stay there. One by one, they all leave. Why are they leaving? Soon it's just me and Daryl.

"We should go, it's not safe." He murmurs and I shake my head.

"Stop. Either you care or you don't. Pick one. So I have ONE less problem to deal with."

"Fine." He stays.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm choosing."

"Can you promise to stick by this?"

"I can promise one thing."

"Okay." I look at him.

"I love you." My breath catches.

"I love you too."

He helps me up and I reluctantly follow him to the house. I look back, tearfully and then go in. I hug Rafe and inform him on what happened. He takes it better than I do.

*******Next Day*******

"You can have my room." Hershel tells Lori as we start moving our stuff in.

I look back in the field where we buried Dale and I choke back tears. Daryl rubs my back and Rafe looks up at me with a goofy grin on. He's wearing a shirt that's too big on him.

"We'll go find some clothes soon." I squeeze his shoulder and help them carry more stuff in. Daryl, Rafe, Leyna and I share a room on the second floor.

"It's fine." Rafe sits on the floor of our room and starts reading the book I brought home for him from the CDC.

I go downstairs after I put on my long sleeve shirt and pants on. It was getting cold. I go out and stand by Merle's, now Daryl's, motorcycle.

"I'm going to drop the kid off." He scowls "I have an extra seat."

"I have to stay with Rafe."

"We'll watch him." Rick says and looks up around "Someone has to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Okay. I'm trusting you to keep him away from Shane." I bite my lip and T-Dog comes up.

"The kid's gone!"

"He can't just be gone!" Rick says and we go to the barn, as he says it's empty.

"What's wrong?" Rafe asks and stands by me.

"The boy got away."

"RICK!" Shane calls and his face is bloody. I look at Daryl and he does the same. "Stupid kid! I chased him into the woods and he did this to my face!"

"Let's go find him. Lori, get the kids and everyone in the house. It's getting dark. Daryl, Caroline and Glen, you two go that way and Shane will take me the other way."

"I should go with you." I look at Daryl and he isn't buying the story as much as I am.

"She's right." Daryl nods

"I'll be fine." I fidget nervously "You three go on."

"But-"

"It's all good." Rick nods that he understands and I look down.

"Fine!" I play along and we turn and go in the other direction, against my gut.

We walk into the woods and the sun goes down. I stay in the middle and keep listening. Daryl trusts his eyes and I trust my ears.

"Look." He holds up a blindfold and I take it.

"Randall's?"

"Mine. I lent it to them." He puts it in his pocket. "There's blood on the tree."

"Shane said they had fought." Glen says and I keep my eyes on Daryl.

"Yeah. There's the leaves too. Had a tussle here also apparently."

"Shh!" I whisper and pull Glen behind a tree. I hear branches break. See?

"What-?" I put my hand over his mouth and the walker comes into view... Except it's Randall.

It comes over and Daryl shoots, misses and it lands on him.

"Daryl!" I grab Rafe's knife and throw it at the walkers head. Luckily, it hit the walker missing Daryl.

"Thanks!" He says and looks over the walker "Huh."

"What?"

"He wasn't bit." He looks all over, but shakes his head "Or scratched."

"That can't be right, you sure?"Glen says and shifts uncomfortably.

"One hundred percent. Let's get back and see if they're back. Need to tell them." We head back quickly.

When we get back, Rick and Shane aren't back. Lori was sitting on the couch worried. I would be too if it was Daryl out there. Leyna hugs me.

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too." I laugh and hear Rafe come down the stairs.

"Carl?" He grins and looks around.

"Carl isn't done here, babe." I look at Lori.

"He should be in our room."

"He's not." Rafe looks around "I looked, he's not there. Unless I got lost..."

"It's okay. Lori will go look." I put my hand on his shoulder.

He looks at Daryl and grins.

"Did you find him?"

"Uh, sort of." He looks at me and Glen.

"Sort of?" Andrea says confused.

"He was a walker."

"He got bit?" Hershel asks

"No, no bites or scratches."

"Carl isn't up here!" Lori freaks and we hear a gun shot.

"Glory, what was that?" I say and go out the door.

"Probably just a walker..." Daryl says, but we all know he doesn't believe that.

"Hey, Lori. It's going to be fine." I toss Andrea my gun and give Rafe his knife back "This saved you once, it can save you again. Lucky knife huh? Saved what Lori and Leyna tell you until we see each other again."

"Might want to come see this!" Daryl says with wide eyes.

We go out and see a whole field of walkers and the barn on fire. I toss Andrea a gun and give Rafe his knife back

"This saved you once, it can save you again. Lucky knife huh? Saved Daryl. Do what Lori and Leyna tell you until we see each other again."

I take my hand gun out and walk out with Hershel. We start shooting. Daryl goes out on his motorcycle and Maggie and Glen went in a car. Jimmy took Dales... My RV. Pretty soon, I get separated from everyone. It's starting to get over run when my ammo runs out. I cuss as two walkers show up, Andrea shows up and Shoots one of them, then another lands on her. I cry and start to run down the road, when everyone leaves.

I have two or three walkers on my tail. I continue to run and cry out for help, gasping for breath. I hear a familiar motorcycle and turn around. He stops and waits.

"C'mon! I don't have all day!"I get on quickly and he speeds away. "We're going to the highway. That's where we're most likely to see them again."

"Glory! Rafe!" I cry "I just got him back!"

"We'll find them. I promise, I won't give up this time."

"Good. Cause I'll need you. I don't have Dale."

We pass a corner full of walkers and then see a familiar blue car pull in front of us.

"Glen and Maggie!" I exclaim and Daryl nods. Someone drives behind us, a blue truck.

We continue to speed to the high-way. One by one, we pull onto the high way and park next to Hershel's red truck. I get off and he follows.

"Rafe? Leyna?" I look around and Leyna gets out of the truck, and Rafe out of Glen's "Thank God!"

I hug them both and follow Daryl to Rick.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asks Daryl.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road - figured he had to be Asian, driving like that." Daryl smirks and we all laugh, as much as we can.

"Good one" Glen Chuckles

"We gotta keep moving. There have been Walkers crawling all over here." Rick says and rubs his forehead.

"I say head east." T-Dog points.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the roads, the more Walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him." Daryl shoots the walker and gets back on his motorcycle.

Everyone gets back in the cars and we start our journey east. When it starts getting dark, someone honks and we pull over.

"Out of gas." Rick says and looks at Lori, "We'll camp here."

"What happened to Shane?" T-Dog asks and looks around.

"I killed him. He had this whole plan to kill me, it was strictly defense. You guys saw how he was." "I thought he got bit! How else did he turn?" Carl says, confused and Rick looks down.

"How's that possible?" Lori says and looks at him.

"We're all infected." Everyone gasps.

"What?" Daryl says first.

"At the C.D.C., Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"And you never said anything?" I say and hug Rafe.

"Would it have made a difference?"

"You knew this whole time?" Glen accuses.

" How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy he was!"

"That is not your call. Okay, when I found about the Walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone!"

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." I stay silent as they go on. When they finish, I take a breath in relief. I get nervous when people yell.

"I'm freezing." Carl says quietly.

"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori says

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close. Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?" Daryl asks.

"Not enough." Rick rubs his forehead again.

"We just can't stand around here with our asses hanging out."  
>" Watch your mouth. Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."Hershel says and we go over to make a campfire.<p>

Daryl sits on a log next to me. It's dark now and Rick's talking to Lori. My eyelids begin to droop and I vaguely remember hearing Rick say a speech, but I soon fall asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

***************Season 3********************

Rick motions for us and Daryl leads the way into the house. Carl and Rick take the bottom floor and Daryl, Glen and I take the top. Daryl shoots an owl and picks off all the feather's. Lori will need it. She's getting close to being due. We go down the stairs and Daryl cooks the owl, then hands it to her to eat. I go out to keep watch and whistle when walkers come out of the forest.

I put Rafe in the car then get on the motorcycle with Daryl. We drive off and stop at a road. In the back, I see a prison and I point it out, then go find water with Maggie and Leyna. I pull my hair back into a ponytail and due to it being feathered, half of it falls out. We fill the jugs and carry them back to the car.

"That's a good look on you." Daryl murmurs and pushes a piece of my hair out of my face.

"Thanks." I try not to blush and I listen to the plans.

After a few moments, we head to the prison. The courtyard is full of walkers.

"Daryl and Caroline, go up to that look out tower and kill some from there. The rest of you, make noise to get them over here. Then stab them."He looks at Lori "If I can get over to those gates and close the gates, we'll be able to clear this area."

Daryl and I climb the tower. I look down at Rafe and try to move quickly, I don't like to leave either of them. We make it to the top and look around.

"It's cozy up here. Bring some blankets and stuff up here, it would be a good home." I go out on the terrace and look back at him, he's watching me. "What?"

"Nothing." He aims his crossbow and motions for Rick.

"Uh-Huh." I smirk and start shooting them, so does Daryl.

Rick starts running across and we shoot the ones that get close to him, while the others stabbed most of the walkers with knifes or shovel ends. Rick finally makes it and hooks the locks on the gate, then helps us finish them off.

"Let's go." Daryl says and goes down, when he's gone, I rub my arm. The gun I have isn't good on my shoulder. I miss my hand gun. I follow him shortly after the sun goes down. We build a fire and make dinner. I grab a bowl of food and walk it over to the bus Daryl's on. I put the bowl up on the bus and he helps me up.

"Brought you some food."

"Not hungry."

"That's not much, but if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all." I hand him the bowl.

"Yeah, I guess little Shane over there has got quite the appetite." He reluctantly takes the bowl and eats quickly

" Don't be mean. Rick's gotten us a lot further than I thought he would, I'll give him that. Shane could never have done that." I groan and move my shoulder.

"What's the matter?"

"That stupid gun hurt my shoulder. Missing my handgun more and more." I sigh and he licks his fingers.

"Turn around." He motions for me to turn.

He rubs my shoulder and electricity runs through my body. Ever since the farm, I get butterflies and electricity when he touches me. It's like the feelings magnified. Now, if it's possible, I love him even more.

"We should go back." He says and I smirk.

"Could be romantic... wanna screw around?" I giggle and he gives me an embarrassed look.

"pfft" He manages, chuckling and heads towards the ladder "I'll go down first."

"Even better!" I giggle and he groans.

"Stop!" He turns red and we go back. When we get there, Beth was singing 'The parting Glass.'

After a few lines, I start singing along. When it's over, Daryl and I go up into our tower. He lays down and I lie next to him, putting my head and hand on his chest. I sleep the best since the farm.

*****Next Morning*****

"Caroline, Wake up." I groan and push him away.

"No... Too early. Don't wanna get up, Daryl."

"Fine, I'll go clear the area by myself." I sit up

"NO."

"Then get up." I hear him chuckle on his way out. I throw a blanket at him.

"JERK!"

I get up and change into my shorts, then go down. I take a bowl from Rafe and eat quickly. Daryl looks at me from his conversation with Rick and butterflies fly in my stomach. We lock eyes and I look away, feeling tingles. I curse silently and stand up, why am I acting like this?

"You ready, Caroline?" Rick says and I follow, T-Dog, Glen, Daryl, Maggie and Rick to the gate.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I mumble and take an ax from Rick.

We make a circle like form and go in, hitting all the walkers one by one. Rick locks the gates that holds a lot of walkers and we finish off the ones in the area. We strip some of the walkers that used to be security guards of their armor and put it in a pile, we'll collect it later.

"Let's find and clear a cell." Rick says and we nod.

We follow the hall and clear all the walkers until we make it to a cell. We shut the door and clear the cell.

"Hey, there's a sort of tower, we can move up there. To be closer." Daryl looks at me and I struggle to hide the butterflies when he says 'We'

"Um.. Y-Yeah."

"Now who's crushing?" Glen whispers in my ear and I slap his arm playfully.

"I'm going out." I glare at Glen and he grins, I go out to get the others.

I go up to the tower and grab all our stuff. I take it down and follow the others into the cell. I put our stuff in the tower and pull two of the mattresses off the bunk beds and into the tower. I help Leyna and Rafe pick a room, then I go back into our tower. I start putting blankets up to cover the windows.

"Why do we need privacy?" Daryl says and I jump.

"Just think it'd be nice. Don't wanna worry about someone watching me when I change. I keep forgetting Shane isn't here." I say and he helps me put the rest of them up.

"Even if he was here, I wouldn't let him touch you."

"I know. You'd get hurt though, and I wouldn't be able to live with that." His hand brushes mine, once again sending electricity through me.

I pull my hair out of the ponytail and braid it quickly. We lay down on the makeshift bed and fall asleep as quickly as we did last night.

When I wake up, Daryl's gone. I get up and stumble to the window, they're talking and going through the armor we saved. I go out and Daryl looks up, then looks down. I go to check on Lori and get Hershel when she asks me to. When I come back, they're getting equipment on.

"Where y'all going?"

"Find food, medicine. We'll be back soon." Daryl says and goes out with Rick, Maggie, Glen, T-Dog and Hershel.

I help Lori clean the cells and Rafe stays by my side. Leyna and Beth're in their room while Carl waits by the gate for them to get back. I pace when we're done, I have a feeling something bad's going to happen. Rafe watches me nervously.

"You get that feeling again?" Leyna asks and I nod. "They'll be fine."

"That's what you're supposed to say." I continue pacing "What's taking them so long?"

"They just left." Lori comforts and I sit next to Rafe on the stairs.

I hear them come in screaming for us to open the doors. Carl opens them quickly and they come in with Hershel with half a leg gone.

"Get him on the bed!" I say and put pressure on the stump. "Get me some pillows, need to elevate it and more stuff to put on here, he's bleeding out."

"Towels. In my room, Carl go get them!" Lori says and I continue to hold his wound.

"What's that?" Beth whispers as people are yelling out of the gate.

"Just some prisoners we ran into, don't worry." Rick says and goes out.

I continue to hold the towels on the stump for a few hours or so. Maggie and Beth are holding his hands, while Lori stays at my aid. Leyna got light-headed, like me but with a choice. Glen informs us on what happened and who those guys are.

"It has to stop eventually right?"

"He's bled a lot already but it's slowing. If he-"

"When he."

"When he gets through this, we'll need crutches."

"We'll manage. Do I look worried?"

"You look nasty." We laugh and then everything goes silent.

"You think those guys will hurt ours?" I say, nervously and Lori takes off his armor.

Maggie goes out and hugs Glen.

"We have to hope for the best. They can handle themselves."

The men get back and Rick tells Glen to put handcuffs on Hershel. Lori takes the towels and holds them against them so I can take a break. I go out and hug Daryl.

"Glory, I was worried. I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah. We've made a deal. Give us half the food we clear a cell block for them. I gotta go. I'll see you later." He picks his crossbow and heads for the door.

"You be safe. Or I'll kill you." I smirk then take the towels.

"What's this?" Maggie demands.

"Just a precaution." I comfort.

"Can I have a moment alone?"

"Sure." I hand her the towels and follow Glen out.

When she's done, I lean against the door and hear the doors open.

"Here check this out."Carl comes in with Rafe.

"Where'd you get all this?" I exclaim.

"The infirmary." Rafe says and I grab bandages.

"You went all by yourselves?" Lori and I say at the same time.

"I took out two walkers, no big deal."

"It's a big deal! You went without telling us!" Lori says and I nod "See this, this was with the whole group!"

"It's not that we aren't grateful, but we don't want to lose you!"

"Then get off our backs!" Carl says

"Carl! You guys can't talk to your parents that way!" Carl freezes then storms out.

I finish bandaging him and sigh in relief.

"It's a good thing we got these. It'll prevent infection. Give him a higher chance." I nod "Glen, can you help me with something?"

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

"Can you come with me?"

"I have to stay here."

"This is important.

"Caroline I can't-"

"Go on, we got this." Lori says.

"It's fine. Go on." Maggie nods and Glen sighs.

"Okay. C'mon." I follow Glen outside.

"That one." I point after explaining my plan.

"This is completely sane. I understand, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

"Lori's overdue, she had Carl by c-section and she'll probably have to do it with this one. Hershel had some experience but he can't do it anymore. I need experience."

"Like I said, it's completely sane."

"I need to learn to cut through the abdomen, so I won't hurt the baby." I touch his arm "I got it." I stab the walker I need and Glen makes noise to distract the others so I can go out and grab her.

I come back quickly so he can shut the gates again and he heads back to the prison. I pace then kneel next to her. I pull the dress up and thank god she was wearing panties. I take my knife out and press along a line, nervously. When I'm done, I go in. It's getting dark and I change clothes in our tower. Daryl comes in and lies down. I sigh and watch him silently.

"Deal with everything okay?" I say and lay on my stomach next to him.

"Three of the guys died. One of the three ran away when Rick killed the one that attacked him. The other got bit, and Tomas killed him."

"Wow." I roll on my back and look up at the ceiling. "Heard Hershel nearly died."

"Lori brought him back."

"That's good."

"He woke up too."

"He did?"

"Yes."

"Good." I yawn and lay my head on his chest. "Night Daryl."

"Night Caroline." Then, I fall asleep.

The next morning I get up and go outside. Daryl and Rick are talking so I go down there.

"We're going to move the cars in here."

"Where's Glen and Maggie?" I stand next to Daryl "We could use the help?" I pull my hair back in a buff I found.

"Up in the guard tower."

"They were just up there last night..." Rick says looking at Daryl.

"Glen! Maggie!" Daryl calls and they come out.

"Hey, what's up guys?"

"You coming?" Rick and I snicker.

"What?"

"You coming?" Daryl repeats.

"Be there in a sec." Rick and I turn and go to the bus.

"Rick." T-Dog points at two of the prisoners.

"Daryl, T-Dog come with me, Car, stay back."

The men're complaining about how their cell block is haunted. They want to come be with our group. Rick, of course turns them down. I shift uncomfortably and try to decide whether it's right or not to bring them into camp. Rick turns to Daryl, who shakes his head. Next thing I know he locks them out of the prison.

"It doesn't feel right, man." T-Dog says and leans his head against the bus.

"Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?" Rick argues.

"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." T-Dog shakes his head.

" I don't know. Axel seems a little unstable." Glen agrees with Rick.

" After all we've been through? We've fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" I shake my head.

"It's just been us for so long. They're strangers, I don't - it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." Maggie folds her arms.

"You brought us in." T-Dog looks at her.

"Yeah, but you turned out with a shot boy in your arms. Didn't give us a choice."

"They can't even kill walkers." Glenn squints.

"They're convicts though." I say, nervously looking at them.

"Those two might even less blood on their hands then we do."

" I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been in there with them just as easy I'm out here with you guys." Daryl looks over at me and butterflies fly. What kind of crap moment is this?

"So you're with me?"

"Hell no!" Daryl shakes his head "Let them take their chances out on the road. Just like we did."

"But-"

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this 19 year old kid. Stabbed his girlfriend. He bubbled like a baby during interrogation during the trial. Suckered the jury. Year later, shot another girl. Our deal stands." Then Rick walks away and everyone follows. "Get them a weeks worth of food for their trip." I get on the motorcycle with Daryl.

"I used to work with motorcycle's. Sounds like it could use a tune up! I can help you!" Axle says, sucking up.

"No thanks." Daryl says and drives away.

I lock the gates and then drive one of the cars into the prison. I park by the truck and see Hershel come out with crutches. I unlock the door and get out, putting my hands over my eyes. I hear Glen yell out and I grin. T-Dog stands by me and we both watch Hershel. Carl, Leyna and Rafe are side by side when we see the walkers come out. I pull my gun out and start shooting as many as I can. I try to get close to Rafe, but T-Dog pulls me in the other direction.

"Rafe!" I call out and my heart pounds. "Stay safe! Okay? Stay with Leyna!"


	13. Chapter 13

We continue to shoot and we soon get overwhelmed. T-Dog shuts the gate back up and a walker comes from behind him and bites his shoulder.

"NO! T-Dog! This way, Hurry!" I cry and we go into the building.

I hear an alarm start going off and I try not to freak out. My bullet's are gone when we run into a few other walkers. I argue with T-Dog and he says he's decided what is going to happen. The lights are flickering along with the alarm and we find ourselves trapped with walkers.

"We have to go back!" I cry and he runs up to them "No! T-Dog!"

"Go! I'm dead anyway! Go! Caroline!" T-Dog yells and I hesitate, then run out.

My buff falls off and I run out of the room, stabbing a walker with a knife. I find a room and hide when my energy is gone. I don't know how long I'm in there, but I can scarcely breath and my energy is gone. I barely keep my eyes open and I finally close them, falling into a dream.

I'm running with Leyna and Rafe through the forest. I just ran away from my father and now we're running from the walkers.

"Stay here." I help them climb onto a tree. "I'm going to go find food."

"Don't leave..." Rafe cries and I squeeze his hand.

"I'll be back." I run into the woods and after a while, I bump into a hard thing.

I look up and it's two men, one with longer hair and the other with a buzz cut. My eyes widen nervously and The one with the longer hair kneels down.

"What's your name?" the other one says rudely.

"C-Caroline." I stutter and try to get up.

"Stay here." He says again with a nasty look.

"Merle... Stop." The one that was kneeling next to me says. "We aren't going to hurt you, Caroline. I'm Daryl and this is my brother Merle."

"W-What kind of name is Merle?" I stutter again and he helps me up.

"Mine." Merle says with a sneer. "You have a group?"

"Just my cousin and my sister." I hesitate "Will you help us?"

"Yes. We'll keep you safe." Daryl says and for some reason, I trust him.

I wake up to the sound of voices I groan and press the door again and again. I hear Daryl's voice. He came to save me!

"Daryl! No Daryl, don't leave" I croak, but I barely make a sound. I couldn't make out what they were saying but I knew Leyna and Rafe are with them.

I hear them say my name and then sobs ring out. I try to call out, but the sobs keep coming. I need to comfort them. They shouldn't cry. I'm not dead, I'm still here. I plead with God and keep pressing the door, but something's against the door so I can't open it. I fall asleep again and wake up when I hear something banging the floor. I press against the door again and again like I did before. I press harder and I hear him get up, I know it's Daryl. He kicks a wall, then I hear him pacing. He pulls something out of the way of the door, opens it then aims his knife, but freezes when he see's me.

"Oh, Caroline." He murmurs and I look at him weakly.

"Daryl." I murmur and he rubs my chin softly, then picks me up and carries me to one of the bed's.

He brings me a cup of water and food. Apparently, I've been out for a few days. I hear doors opening and voices, so Daryl goes out to see what it is.

"Rick!" I hear him say "Who the hell is this?"

I don't hear Rick's reply and I rub my head.

"Why don't y'all come in here for a sec."

"Is everything all right?" Rick asks quietly.

"You're gonna want to see this."

"Carl get the basket." I hear footsteps and voices, then I see Rick and the others.

I stand up and he reaches for me.

"Oh Glory!" I whisper and hug Hershel and Rick.

"Found her in a cell. Passed out."

I see the baby and look at Rick. He shakes his head and I cry.

"I'm sorry!" I hug Rick and Carl, then take the baby from Beth feeling a lot stronger. I'm much better now. I follow Daryl out still holding the baby. I see a black woman with dreadlocks and a nasty wound on her leg.

They argue about something, but I focus on the baby.

"Glen and Maggie were taken." She says quietly and my eyes widen.

"What?!" I exclaim and look at Daryl worriedly.

"A man called the Governor, I'll take you to him."She says and Hershel leans down to treat the woman and I follow Daryl into the cell blocks.

"We're going to get them." Rick says.

"I'll go." Beth says

"Me too." Axle nods.

"No. You two stay, need you here. Oscar, Daryl and..." He looks at me and I nod.

"No WAY, Caroline!" Daryl argues and I hand the baby to Beth.

"Yes way, Daryl. I'm better now, I have to go. Glen's my brother as much as Leyna's my sister." I argue and he groans, then follows me out to the car. We're taking two since there isn't enough room. I grab another hand gun, then Rafe and Leyna attack me.

"Thank God you're okay!" Leyna cries "Do you have to go?"

"I'll be back, I swear." I smile and stroke her cheek, then kiss both of their foreheads "Keep The baby safe, okay?"

"Okay." they nod.

I lean against the car and wait for Rick.

"You have to promise to stay safe." Daryl says making me wait to get in the car.

"Nine lives, remember." I smirk and get in. He gets in the drivers side, then drives behind Rick.

We drive for about twenty miles then pull over and park.

"They have patrols, we're better off on foot." Michonne says

"How far?"

"A mile or so." She says as we walk through the woods.

I stay behind Daryl with a hand on his backpack, I'm not as strong but I won't admit it.

"Rick!" Daryl hisses and we duck.

"No gunfire!" Rick says and then we hack some heads, then run in the direction Rick points in. "In there!"

We break into a house and gag at the smell.

"What the hell is that?"Oscar says

"What's left of a fox." Walkers begin pounding on the door and we notice a person in bed under the covers.

Rick lifts it up and when the man jumps up scared, Daryl pushes me back.

"I need you to lower your gun!" Rick whispers.

"Show me your badge!"

"I'll reach down slowly..." Then he grabs the man. He gets free and Michonne puts her knife through him.

"Remember the Alamo?" Daryl looks through the window. He helps Rick throw the man out one door, then we run out the other, toward the mysterious town.

We kneel behind a car at the wall that the woman says is the town 'Wood Bury'. We breathe heavily and Michonne leaves.

"We need to downsize." Rick says.

"We won't get through there too many guards."

We hear branches and Michonne comes out of the dark and points in a direction. We follow her quietly and come into an empty house. They argue about what to do and I lean against the wall.

"We'll split up." The door opens and we hide.

We hear footsteps and a man babbling, then Rick grabs him and gags him, trying to get information but fails. Daryl knocks him out and then we hide them. Rick opens the door and we sneak out. We go into a tunnel with our guns up high and my heart races. We kneel by the door and I hear a voice, I recognize it, but couldn't place it. Daryl takes a flash grenade and we quickly grab Glen and Maggie then run out. We half carry Glen and go into a room.

"No way out." Daryl says and I check Glen out.

"Daryl, this was Merle."Glen scowls painfully.

"You saw?" Daryl says and I freeze.

"Face to face." Glen confirms. "Threw a walker at me, tried to execute us."

"So my brother's this governor?"

"No, he's someone else."

"He knows I'm with you?"

"Yeah, told him where we live. Sorry rick."

"Don't be sorry. We have a car a mile out, can you walk?"

"Yeah."

"If Merle's alive, I need to see him." Daryl says and I stand up next to him.

"No, we have to go! We're in hostile territory!" Rick says.

"He's my brother!"

"Look what he's done!"

"I can work something out!"

"No, we have to go!"

"But-"

"Daryl!" I say and put a hand on his chest to stop him from leaving "We'll do it another time. Come on. We need you in case something happens!"

He hesitates, then nods and pulls his crossbow up. He throws another grenade out and fog envelops the area.

"Let's go!" Rick says and we shoot our way out. I stay behind Daryl and shoot when people shoot at me. "Take cover!"

"How many?"

"Didn't see!" I answer and reload my gun.

"You guys go on, I'll cover fire." Daryl says and takes another grenade out.

"No, we STAY together." I say and he squeezes my hand.

"It's too hairy. I'll be fine." He says, then throws the grenade and starts shooting.

I help Maggie carry Glen up the bus and Oscar helps him up. I look back and Oscar gets shot.

"Rick!" Maggie yells.

"Maggie! Caroline!" Glen yells and helps us up.

"DARYL!" Rick yells and drags me over the fence, because I don't go willingly.

We run and take cover behind a car again. Tears were falling quickly and Michonne turns up. Rick takes her machete and argues with her. Maggie rubs my arms comfortingly.

"We have to get Daryl back!" I scowl when they argue "We need help to do that! He'd do it for any of you without thinking!" "Fine." Rick says and we make a plan.

*****few mins later*****

I'm on top of a building watching them yell at the governor with Maggie. I see him bring Merle and Daryl out. They take his crossbow and people cheer.

"Fight, to the death!"

My eyes widen, Daryl has no chance of beating Merle. I cry out when Merle starts kicking him. Maggie holds me back and I sob uncontrollably and try not to throw up. I can't handle it, I follow Maggie to a better spot on the ground when Merle and Daryl work together. I hesitate, waiting for Ricks order, then shoot as many as I can to get Daryl free.

"DARYL!" I yell.

Merle and Daryl run in our direction. Daryl grabs his crossbow then grabs my wrist and we race out of Wood Bury. Merle helps me crawl through a hole in the wall, then beats the walkers that are close to us.

"Let's go!" Daryl yells and we run side by side back to the cars.

I see Glen and Michonne chase after Merle, who backs up.

"He helped us get out of there!" Daryl yells at Michonne and Glen. I stay silent, still glaring at Merle, as much as I love Merle No one can hurt Daryl and get away with it.

"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you." Rick points at him.

"Hey, we both took our licks, man." Merle smirks

"Jackass." Daryl scowls at Merle.

"Man, look like you've gone native, brother." Merle laughs

" No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there!"

"Oh, yeah, man. He's a real charmer, I got to tell you that." After that I forget trying to keep up with their conversation and just lean against a tree.

"Shut up, Merle!" Daryl scowls and stands between me and Merle.

Rick tells him to shut up, then hits him on the head knocking him out.

"Ass hole." Rick scowls "Will you watch him?"

I nod and stay at the tree, watching them go down to the cars. Merle wakes up a few minutes later.

"You and my brother, huh?"

"Sure." I say and fidget with my shirt.

"Y'know he's gay, right?"

"No he's not." I scowl and Merle chuckles.

"Has he ever kissed you? Touched you other than your hand?" He chuckles at my face and my heart pounds, it makes sense but I don't believe it.

"Shut up Merle." I force out and he continues.

"Has he ever slept with you? And not the sleeping kind."

"SHUT UP MERLE!" I holler and they look at me. I turn red and storm down to the car "Go to hell."

I slam the car door and Michonne get's in.

"Rick wants you to take me home, so Hershel can fix my leg." She says quietly and I nod, then drive off.

When we get there, Hershel fixes Michonne and I pace by the gate with Carl. Leyna lays her head on my shoulder and I smile.

"We're all okay." I promise and wonder what happened with Merle. He knows how to get under my skin.

It seems like forever until they get back.

"It's so quiet." Carl says

"It's easy to forget how loud it used to be." I smile " I used to complain about it. Car alarms, fire alarms. Noise pollution. What I would give to hear the noise of a jumbo jet."

"It would be even sweeter if we were on it." He laughs.

"Your mom was so proud of you."

"For what, being mean to her?"

"No, you can't think about that."

"That's all I think about. Please be them." We run to the gate and open it, then shut it.

"Meet me there." Rick says and the car drives off when I don't see Daryl or Merle.

"Where's Daryl?" I whisper.


	14. Chapter 14

"It's okay, he's alive." Rick touches my shoulder. "He went with Merle."

"He left?" Tears fill my eyes and my heat breaks. "Daryl left? He's gone? Is he coming back?" I pull away from rick and he puts an arm around my shoulder when I cry. "Gone?"

We get up there and Leyna takes my hand and Rafe takes the other, walking me to the cell block. I pick the baby up when she starts to cry and rock her gently. I take the baby to Rick and he holds her gently, but she starts to cry. He hands her back to me and looks pressured. Beth comes up to help me change her and we talk.

"Rafe was loud when he was a baby."

"She wouldn't have made it without Daryl."

"I know." I sigh " I wouldn't be either."

"I don't understand why he left."

"That's his brother. I'd go if it was Leyna or Rafe."

"I'm pissed at him for leaving."

"Don't be, he needs or thinks he needs to be with Merle. He's not the nicest, but he's all Daryl has of his family. Blood anyway. He has his code, we need guys like that." I put Judith back in her blanket and hand her to Beth. "Thanks for the help." I stumble to our, now only mine, tower. I lay on the cot and look up at the ceiling feeling heartbroken.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I do and it isn't pleasant. I hear them talking when I wake up. I listen and come out quietly. I follow them out into the other room and I sit against the wall. They're begging him to let them stay.

"No." Rick shakes his head and he's about to start freaking out.

"Rick. You've done so much for us. I appreciate that, we all do. We do what you ask without question. I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You gotta let people have a chance." Hershel pleads and Rick looks at all of us.

I think he's going to say yes until he looks up at nothing and it all comes out.

"No, no no no no. No no. No no no no no Why are you here? What do you want from me? Why... I can't help you, get out! Get-get out. You don't belong here GET OUT!" Rick freaks "Why are you here!"

"Just go!" Glen says to them gently and I feel my heart pound. Or what's left of my heart.

I go back to the tower and fall asleep. When I wake up, it's morning and I don't want to get out of bed. I hear Judith cry, so I get up and feed her. Life must go on, with or without Daryl. I feed her a bottle and walk back and forth. I sigh and put her back in the make-shift crib. I go out of the cell block and watch Glen make a plan.

"We should sneak in and put a bullet in his head."

"We're not assassins." I look down.

He goes on until Maggie stalks off and Glen hesitates.

"Who's on watch? Damn it!" He storms off and we all look at each other.

"The boiler room is over run again."Glen announces when Carl and he gets back.

"We just cleared that." I say and Glen's wanting to take Maggie to find out where the walkers are getting in.

I hear Maggie yell at him and I go out to help Axle put stuff up to hide us if the Governor comes. He tells me the reason he's in the jail and that he doesn't know how to use his gun.

"It's fully loaded. Let's hope it stays that way." I hand it back to him.

"You're quite a lady." He says and I smile, then walk away.

I walk outside and Axle follows me.

"Stress getting to your man Rick?"

"Can you blame him?"

"No i-" Then a gunshot blows through his head and he lands on top of me.

Gun shots hit him and I hear Rafe scream. I call to tell him I'm okay and to get inside the jail. Gun shots continue and I take mine out of the back of my pants. It goes quietly and Maggie runs out yelling for Beth.

"Caroline, GO!" I run and take cover by Carl and Leyna.

I hear a car approach and I groan, it can't be good. They smash through our gates and Idles next to the other gate. The back door opens and walkers come out. I gasp, Hershel's still in those fields! A person comes out and shoots at Michonne, so Maggie, Leyna, Carl and I start shooting at the people in one of the towers. I run to the gate to help clear the area with Maggie. We start shooting, though it starts looking hopeless. They get Hershel into the truck, then they speed towards us. I shut the gates and hug Hershel.

We watch Rick and see Daryl with Merle who save Rick. My heart isn't broken anymore and I watch the walkers fill the field. I put my hand on the gate when Daryl looks at me. They come back to the courtyard and I hug Daryl roughly, lacing my fingers in his hair. He pulls away and follows Rick into the prison. My heart sinks and Merle smirks at me.

"What'd I say, little sis?"

"Shut up." I sigh and walk by Merle into the cell block. They lock him out and us in.

"We aren't leaving!"

"We can't stay either!" Hershel argues.

I lean against the wall next to Rafe. Merle talks rudely to them and I hug Rafe to me, with Judith in my arms. Rick starts walking away and Hershel yells at him, then lectures him. Rick takes watch, then comes back. I hear Daryl climb up to our tower and I hesitate, listening to their conversation. I climb up and open the door, leaning against the doorway.

"I haven't had a chance to say, I'm glad you're back." I smile and he looks up at me.

"To what? All this?"

"This is our home." I sit on the bed with him.

"This is our tomb."

"That's what T-Dog said." I look down. "Thought he was right, until you found me. He's your brother, but he's not good for you. Don't let him get you down. Look at how far you've come."

We laugh and I lay my head in his lap.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're going to either way." He looks down at me.

"How come you've never kissed me."

He goes silent, thinking.

"Never thought about it." He shrugs

"Are you um..." I hesitate "Gay?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

"Merle got in my head I guess."

He strokes my face gently " No, I'm not."

"Oh, okay." I blush "Sorry I asked."

"It's okay." He looks into my eyes "If you want me to I will."

I blush and he leans down slowly and presses his lips softly onto mine. I sit up and lace my fingers into his hair and pull him closer. I pull away and look down.

"Why is your shirt ripped?" I ask and he sighs.

"Merle. He probably wanted to make it easier and harder at the same time."

"Sure, sure. I love you Daryl." I murmur and kiss him again.

*****After :3*****

I dress quickly and go out, trying not to look suspicious. I go out and sit by Merle. He grins at me and looks up at the tower.

"Did it work?"

"Did what work?" I say confused and then my eyes widen "You knew!"

"I didn't expect you guys to do it without any influence!"

"Glory, MERLE-"

"Guys, Andrea's here, we need you out there." Rick says and Daryl comes out with a different shirt on.

"Okay." I say and hand Daryl his crossbow. Suddenly, I felt closer to him than I have.

We go out and see Andrea at the gates. Daryl and I stay back with Merle in the front with Rick.

"Are you alone?" He hollers

"Open the gates!" Andrea calls.

"Are you alone!"

"RICK!" She cries and kills another walker.

He throws Daryl the keys and he unlocks it for Andrea. She comes in and Rick presses her against the gates.

"Get on the ground!" He orders and she does it, though she's shocked.

He takes her weapons from her.

"I asked if you were alone!"

"I am!" She says breathless and Daryl takes my hand.

"Welcome back." He pats her back "Get up!"

He leads her to the cell block and she hugs me.

"Thought you were dead after you saved me." I hug back, then sit on the seat with my back against Daryl's legs.

"Hershel, my gosh! I can't believe this." We inform her everything that's happened.

I bite my fingers and pull my hair out of the braid and run my hands through it. She tries to work it out with us, but Rick shakes his head and tells her he's going to kill The Governor. I put my face in my hands and stay silent.

"You wanna help? Get us inside."

"No I-"

"Then there's nothing to talk about." Rick storms out.

"There are innocent people!" She calls and scoffs.

She walks out with Michonne and I go up and hold Judith. I hear the door shut and Andrea come up the stairs.

"You can't leave without meeting lil ass kicker." I smile and Andrea grins.

"May I hold her?"

"Of course." I hand her to Andrea.

"Lemme guess, Daryl named her lil ass kicker?"

"Mmhmm. Her real names Judith." I smile and watch Andrea hold her.

"What happened to Lori?"

"During c-Section. Maggie. Carl had to.."

"Oh my gosh."

"T-Dog died, leading me to safety"

"And Shane?"

"Rick killed him. The night we left the farm, the whole Randall thing was a lie. Shane tried to kill Rick."

"Shane loved Rick."

"Shane loved Lori." I put my hands on my waist.

"Ricks become cold. Unsteady."

"He has his reasons. The governor. You need to do something."

"I am."

"You need to sleep with him." She hands me Judith and looks alarmed. "Give him the best night of his life. Get him to drop his guard then when he's sleeping, you can end this."

I follow her out to the car and Daryl comes next to me. He nods at Andrea before she leaves. We follow her to the gate and watch her drive away. Merle locks the gates then follows us inside.

When it's dark, we light candles. Daryl leans against a cell door and Rick holds Judith. Beth starts singing again and I go over to Daryl and lean my head on his shoulder. He slides an arm around my waist and takes my hand. I smile and start singing softly.

"Some reunion, huh?" Daryl whispers.

"She's in a jam." Rick defends.

"We all are. Andrea's persuasive. This guys armed to the teeth. Bent on destruction."

"Whaddya wanna do?" Daryl says and tightens his grip on me.

"Gotta match it, going on a run. Tomorrow. Take Michonne, you stay here and keep an eye on your brother. Glad you're back. Really. But if he causes a problem it's on you."

"We got him" I say softly and Rick nods.

"You sure Michonne is a good idea?" Daryl mutters.

"We'll find out. Carl too. He's ready. You guys hold it down here."

"We got it." Daryl sighs and pulls me to the tower.

*****Two days later***** We ride into the place where The Governor said to meet him. It was me, Rick, Hershel and Daryl. Daryl leads and I stay behind Rick. We hold our guns up, just in case. Daryl motions and we go in that direction. We continue even though our breath is labored. We come across a recent killed walker. Rick points in one direction for Daryl and I to go and he goes into the building. I pull my braided and loose hair over my shoulder. We pass a window and see Rick with another man, guessing the governor. We watch the governor take his weapons off and put them on the ground.

Daryl nods at me and takes my hand, leading me to the front of the building.

"Already in there, sat down with Rick."

"Don't see any cars." Hershel looks around

"Don't feel right. Keep it running."

He pats the car and points at the other car that came. He lifts his crossbow up and points it at all of them. Andrea didn't know the man was in there. She goes in there with a scowl.

"Maybe I should go inside." Hershel suggests.

"The Governor thought it best that he and Rick spoke privately."a man with glasses interupts.

"Who the Hell are you?" Daryl demands and I touch his arm softly, ignoring the look the other man gives me.

"Milton Mamet."

"Great. He brought his butler.

"I'm his adviser."

"What kind of advice?"

" Planning. Biters Uh, you know, I'm sorry. I don't feel like I don't need to explain myself to the henchmen."

"You better watch your mouth, sunshine."

"Look, if you and I are going to be out here pointing guns at each other all day, do me a favor, shut your mouth."I grind my teeth and look at Daryl, knowing I'm the only thing between hurting these guys.

Daryl looks at me and I shake my head "Ignore them, they mean to get in your head."

"Fine." He grinds his teeth and paces.

I sigh, this is going to be a long day. Andrea comes out looking rejected and sits next to Hershel. They talk for a while until one of the men with the gun whistles. Andrea, Daryl, the other guy and I go up to them.

"After you!"

"You first." Daryl says and Andrea and I roll our eyes, each taking out one.

The boys take out the rest, competitively.

"Men!" I scoff and lean against one of the silver things.

"Look what he's got." Daryl says and shows Martinez a pack of cigarettes.

"Nah. I prefer menthols."

"Douchebag." Daryl scowls and lights one. They argue and I pretend I don't see them.

The man tells Daryl his story when I give up fighting and hold my hand out for the package. He hands it to me, suspiciously and I take the cigarette out of his mouth and throw them into a nearby pond.

"I prefer N0NE!" I mutter and pass them, ignoring Martinez who's trying to figure out my deal.

I go back to where Hershel, Andrea and Milton are with Daryl not far behind. A few minutes pass when a man comes out of the building. I grind my teeth and it's Daryl's turn to hold me back, this guy hurt Daryl. Before I could do anything, he drags me onto his motorcycle and drives off in front of Rick. We make it back and get in the gates before walkers can catch up to us. I get off and Rafe tackles me with a hug. Daryl picks him up and gives him a piggy back ride when I hug Leyna.

"Let's get inside." Rick says and we all go in. "So I met this governor. Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you? Shoulda gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle says and stalks out, looking at me one last time.

"He wants the prison." Rick says, like he's holding something back. "He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead, for what we did to wood bury. We're going to war."

My heart pounds and Daryl nods at Merle, then leads me to our tower to sleep for the night.


	15. Chapter 15

*****The next day*****

"It's the only way. No one else knows" Rick tells Daryl and I.

"Are you gonna tell them?" Daryl asks and I let loose strands of hair fall in my face. These days, I don't bother taking my hair out of the braid.

"Not until after." Rick says "We have to it today and we have to keep it quiet"

"Got a plan?" Daryl says and looks at me. I have become rather attached to Michonne.

"Tell her we need to talk, away from the others."

"Just ain't us man."

"No, no it isn't." Hershel looks down and I pat his arm gently.

"Do this? We avoid a fight. No one else dies."

"Okay,"

"We need someone else."

"I'll talk to him." Daryl nods.

"No, I'll do it." Rick looks at me and Hershel, then back at Daryl.

"We'll go with you." I step forward.

"No, just me." Then he walks away.

Daryl wraps his arm around my waist and we go back to the cell block to gather supplies. We go out and I help distract the walkers while Glen, Daryl and Michonne put the stuff down. They get back in the car and come back up to the gate. Maggie, Carl, Leyna, Rafe and I follow them.

"Good idea!" Rick says

"It was Michonne's." Daryl looks at Rick and I hope I won't chicken out. Rafe stands by my side, as if sensing something.

"Let's go." Rick says and I take Daryl's hand, when I get to the cell block, Daryl goes somewhere leaving me alone with Merle and Judith.

"Are you with us?" I ask putting ammo in the boxes.

"Sure."

"I don't mean, occupying the same space. Are you with us!"

"I'm here for my brother."

"Well, he's here for us." I say gently and glance at him. "It's not time to do shots, it's time to pick a damn side."

"You ain't like you was back in the camp. You don't seem scared of anything anymore"

"I'm not." Even though there is something I am scared of.

"You're a late bloomer." I put the stuff in the bags and get up.

"Maybe you are too." I pick Judith up and carry her out.

I walk around the block, rocking her gently. I pause when I hear Daryl and Merle talking. I listen quietly. They're talking about Rick, then how much Daryl's changed.

"What happened? With you and Glen? And Maggie?"

"You need to grow up. Now, your people want to be like me."

"Can't do anything without people anymore."

"You mean, you can't do anything without her?"

"I just want my brother back."

"Get outta here man!" Merle says and I flee back to the cell block, where Hershel, Maggie and Beth were praying. I look at Leyna and Rafe, then take them over.

"Can we join you?"

"Sure." Maggie nods and we sit next to them, me still rocking Judith.

I pray silently along with Hershel and realize that Hershel's about to not let Rick do this. He looks at me and I nod, agreeing with him.

"You okay?" Beth says, taking Hershel's hand when tears fall down his face.

"What I wouldn't do, to keep you two safe." I get up and go out, looking for Daryl. I look for a while and I start freaking out.

"Daryl!" I call and Rick comes out, looks at me then turns back and goes inside. I narrow my eyes and follow him.

"Need to talk, gather everybody outside." Rick informs me then goes inside.

"Okay..." I do what he says and see Glen talking to Maggie.

I grin his way and he turns red. I shrug and he nods. I giggle and put two thumbs up before going to sit down. I sort of wish that Daryl would do that. Rick comes and Maggie and Glen follow. He tells them about their deal with the Governor.

"Now Merle took michonne to fill the deal. Daryl went after him!"

"What!?" I hand Beth the baby and start to pass Rick. He grabs my arm.

"You can't go after him!"

"If something happens, he'll not only want me, he'll need me!" I yank away and get on his motorcycle.

I start it and drive toward where we met the governor. I park by the building and I hear someone crying. I run toward the sound and freeze, Merle the walker was staring Daryl in the face. My heart breaks and I go toward Daryl when he knifes him five or six times. He falls back and I get on the ground next to him and hug him, while I'm still sobbing.

"It's okay, baby." I cry and he continues to sob "I'm sorry."

****************Next Day****************

I help Rafe and Leyna pack their bags after I make sure mine and Daryl's are done. I carry the stuff to our cars and look back, this is our home. Carl's angry at Rick because he won't let Carl stay here and help us. Daryl fixes his motorcycle and I go over there quietly.

"Merle never did anything like that in his whole life." He says and looks down.

"He gave us a chance." I hold my hand out and he takes it, getting up after grabbing his arrows.

We get in our places and hear cars approach and guns blowing stuff up. Daryl slips his hand in mine as I start to shake. I shake when I'm nervous.

We hear them come into the prison and Daryl takes grenades out of his pockets. Daryl throws them and the alarms go on. People freak out and we let walkers loose. They start running away and Daryl grins at me. I hear Glen yell and I pray that Leyna's okay. She insisted on coming and I shouldn't have let her. We come out as they leave and cheer. We line up at the gate and decide to go to wood Bury and end it.

I follow Daryl in and I pick Rafe up, crying in relief when I see both Leyna and Rafe.

"Thank God you're okay." I see Daryl smile and I go over and hug him.

He kisses me softly then takes my hand.

"You coming with us to Wood Bury?"

"But of course." I sigh and stick my hand gun in the back of my pants.

I follow Daryl out and Glen announces that Maggie and Glen are staying. I hug Glen and Maggie before getting on Daryl's motorcycle. We go until we see the governors two cars. I get off and look around. The people were all killed. I knife two walkers and jump when hands beat at the trucks door. The girl's alive. She leads us to wood bury after explaining what happened. I stay behind with her and Michonne. I duck behind a car when people shoot.

"Tyreese! It's me Don't-"

"Get down!" Rick pulls her down.

"Karen!" A deep, familiar voice calls. "Karen are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"

"Where's the governor?"

"He fired on everyone. He killed them all."

"Why're you with them?"

"They saved me!"

Rick looks at us and Daryl shakes his head.

"We're coming out!" Rick says and we put our hands up.

They open the gates and come out, it's the two people that Carl saved.

"What are you doing here?" The man demands.

"We're coming to end this. Until we saw what the governor did."

"He killed them?"

"Yeah." Rick says softly. "Karen told us Andrea jumped the wall to come for the prison. She never made it. She might be here."

We go where they held Glen and Maggie.

"This is where they held people?"

"More then hold them?" Daryl says and we see blood. I gag and focus on not throwing up.

"Will you open it?

He opens it and see's Milton dead, Andrea on the floor. I cry when she shows us her bite and I take her hand. Daryl puts a hand on my shoulder and I put my other hand on his.

"No one can make it alone now."

"I never could." Daryl shakes his head and looks at Rick.

"I just didn't want anyone to die. I can do it myself."

"No."

"No, I have to... While I still can. Please. I know how the safety works."

Rick hands her a gun and stands up.

"I'm not going anywhere." Michonne cries and Andrea looks at Daryl.

"I tried."

"Yeah, you did." Rick agrees and we go out, shutting the door.

Daryl hugs me close to his chest and we wait for the gunshot. We wait a few minutes and I sob when it comes. We gather everyone into a bus and we lead them to our home. Our prison. It's ours and no one can take it from us. Daryl parks and I get off. I hug Leyna and cry.

"She's gone. Andrea's gone." Rafe hugs me and I pull them close "I'm not going to lose you three." I stand up and take Daryl's hand, then lead everyone into the prison.

I put our bags in our new tower, outside and everything is normal, for now.


	16. Chapter 16

****Fifth season of The Walking Dead.****

"Mornin' Daryl!" Some voice says followed by many others.

"Smells good." He says and points to the food I'm making.

"Just so you know." I smirk at him "I liked you first."

"Stop." He says and pops some food in his mouth. "Y'know, Rick brought a lot of them too."

"Not recently." I say and look at him teasingly "Give the strangers a sanctuary, keeping them safe, and giving them something to eat, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love"

"Right." He looks around and I run my fingers through my hair.

"I need you to see something. Patrick, wanna come take over?" I look over at the boy.

"Yes Ma'am." He says excitedly and stops us from leaving "Mr. Dixon, I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat, sir."

I grin at Daryl and he sends me a glare.

"And I'd be honored to shake your hand." Patrick holds out his hand and Daryl looks at him for a second, then licks all his fingers before shaking his hand.

I snort and lead him to the gate, laughing silently.

"About today... I don't know if we're gonna be able to spare a lot of people for the run. I'm still hesitant on letting Leyna go."

"That place is good to go, we're gonna move on it. She'll be fine, she's with me remember?" He says with a mouthful of food, I just continue to lead him to the gate.

"The thing is, we had a pretty big build up overnight." I say when we get there. "Dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month. They don't spread out anymore."

"With more of us sitting here, we're drawing more of them out." Daryl swallows and points "You get enough of the damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up."

"Pushing against the fences again." I lean into his shoulder and look at him. "It's manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long." I grin and blink innocently at him"Sorry, pookie."

He scoffs and nudges me with his elbow, then walks away. I watch my sister for a while, then I go out to where Daryl and the others that are going on the run today are. I help Daryl pack the stuff and I watch Beth and her boyfriend kiss.

"It's like a Damn romance novel!" Daryl says and I kiss his cheek.

"Oh, you know you love it. How come we never do anything like that?" I grin and he rolls his eyes, then passes Bob and Sasha.

"We ain't gonna do it unless it's easy." He says and I put my hand on Daryl's shoulder, looking at Leyna.

"Stay in his sight, got it? I ain't gonna lose you, you do what I say. If he can't save you with his knife, you're too far away." I walk down with them to greet Michonne.

"Well, look who's back." Daryl says, turning off the motorcycle and Leyna gets on behind him.

"Didn't find him"

"Glad to see you in one piece." Daryl glances at Rick.

"I'm thinkin' of lookin' around Macon. It's worth a shot."

Rick looks down, with a weird look on his face.

"Seventy miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?" He shrugs, then looks at me and Rick. "I'm gonna go check out the big spot. The one I was talking about just seein'."

"Yeah, I gotta go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers."

"I'll go." Michonne tells Rick.

"You just got here!" Carl says and Rafe pets her horse.

"And I'll be back." She grins at them before going off.

Daryl pats Rick and I help him open the gates to let them out. I put my arm around Rafe and lead him to our make-shift library. The children and their parents get here, so I start reading and waiting for them to leave. Lizzie's dad motions that he's going to leave, so I wait a few moments and then snap the book shut.

"Should I take watch now, Car?" Rafe says and I nod and take the knives out.

"Today, we are talkin' about knives. How to use them, how to be safe with them. And how they can be used to save your lives." I look at all the children.

"Ma'am, may I be excused?" Patrick says and I look up.

"Why?"

"I don't feel so good."

"Sometimes you're gonna have to fight through it. What if you're out there. Alone. Would you get sick then?"

"No, it's just, I don't wanna yak on somebody." He says, rubbing his knees and I know he's not feeling good.

"Go on, honey." I say gently and he gets up, leaving quickly "Okay, today we're gonna learn how to hold a knife. How to stab and slash and where to aim for..." My eyes widen when I see Carl "Please, don't tell your father..."

He runs off, shaking his head and my heart pounds, Rafe looks at me wide-eyed. I continue on with the lesson though, like nothing happened. After, I go to our tower and read until dark, when I hear the motors of cars come in. I get up, running down the stairs and I follow Daryl into Beth's cell, waiting outside where he can't see me.

"Hey." Beth says and after a minute after he says hi, she continues."What is it?"

I stand in shock when she doesn't even cry at her boyfriends death. Then she hugs him and I grind my teeth, a bit jealous. I head back to our tower and I hear him stomp up.

"Hey, Car." He says, quietly and sits on our cot next to me.

"Hey, you okay?" I say and put my book down, looking at him carefully.

"Yeah, It's just-"

"Zach died? Yeah, I heard. Followed you into that cell block. I heard everything." I look at him sadly "It ain't your fault. Just so you know that."

"I know." I turn the lantern off and curl up close to him, warming me up. "Night, Car."

"Night, pookie." I grin and he nudges me again, playfully and then we fall next morning, Daryl's putting his cross-bow around over his shoulder and he glances at me.

"Mornin' Daryl." I yawn and get up, pulling my waist-long braided hair over my shoulder.

"Mornin'-" He's interrupted by gunshots.

"What was that?" I say, wide-eyed.

"I dunno, stay-"

I ignore him, running down and I follow Rick into the prison with Daryl right behind us. Daryl goes in first and we see the cell block, being attacked by walkers. I shoot one by Daryl and he picks up a little boy, handing him to Karen. I see Lizzie and Mica's dad, bit on the arm and I shoot the walker, helping him into his room.

"Okay, sit still." I order and grab his belt off the wall " I gotta amputate it. I have to do it now. Bite this."

I take my knife near his arm, freezing when I see his neck half gone because of a walker. I put my hand on my forehead, holding back tears and I hear the gunshots silence.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I say and he cries.

"It's happening isn't it? I'm turnin'." He cries and I tell him to relax. "Lizzie and Mica, you care about them. I've seen it, they have nobody else. Watch out for them like they're yours? Take care of them for me? Promise me?"

"I... I promise." I say, still trying not to cry "You wanna see them before so they can say good bye?"

"Okay. Okay, I'll go get them." I say and go out, finding Mica and Lizzie huddled in a corner.

I cry quietly after I tell them and they hold on to their father. I lean my head on the wall and wait for them to be done.

"It's time, girls." I say, unwillingly taking my knife out."I gotta..."

"No! We should do it! We should be the ones." Lizzie stops me.

"No, I can't." Mica cries.

"You sure?" I say, taking Mica's hand.

"Yeah, you taught us."

I remind her how to do it, but she freaks out and I take the knife, listening to Mica tell Lizzie to look at the flowers. I do it quickly and then comfort the girls. I stay with them until I know they're okay, and then I go to find Rafe, but Daryl stops me.

"We can't go out. Patrick died of some illness. We've been exposed." He informs me and I bite my lip.

"Are Rafe and Leyna..."

"No, they ain't exposed but you can't come near them." He adjusts his bow "Hershel's called for a meeting."

We go into the room and I explain that Patrick was fine last night.

"We have to separate all the exposed." Daryl says and we talk about the cell block to use when we hear coughing.

"You don't sound so good." I say, looking at Karen nervously while they all explain it to them.

Daryl leans against the wall across from me and Karen informs us that David's coughing too, then they all show Karen where she's staying.

"You all right?" Daryl says, ripping me out of my train of thought.

"Worried about Lizzie and Mica." I say and he nods. "They were exposed."

"We all were. Karen and David will be separated until they feel better." He says and shifts legs.

"Are you all right?" I say tucking loose strands of hair behind my ears.

"Yep." He bites his lip. "Gotta be."

"No you don't." I say, but he's turned and left by then.

I go out, seeing Lizzie and Mica by the fence. I see her crying, so I go over and stand next to her.

"Why are you upset?" I say quietly.

"They killed Nick!" She cries and I look at her confused, then she points at a dead walker.

"Lizzie, that's a walker." I lean over to her "He was already dead. You can't be scared, remember what I taught you."

"He was my friend!"

"Lizzie, you're so stupid!" Mica says and I look over at her, shocked.

Lizzie cries and runs up toward the prison.

"She's not scared, she's just messed up." Mica says and follows her.

I hesitate, before going into the tower, seeing Carl make crosses. I stay a distance away from him, but close enough he can hear. He looks at me.

"You know if Patrick was catholic?"

"He said he was practicin' atheist." I say and lean against a table awkwardly. "Did you tell your dad about the library?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to tell him?" I say, and wait a few minutes "I need to teach those kids how to survive."

"Do their parents know?"

"No..." I say and my heart pounds.

"Are you going to?"

"Maybe, but they might tell me no and I can't take that chance."

"Then it's between you and them."

"No, it's between you and me." I say and sit at the table. "If you tell your dad he'll tell them. And like I said, maybe they'll understand."

"I'm not going to lie."

"I'm not asking you to lie, I'm asking you to not tell him." I say and he huffs, then I wait a minute before going back out to see Lizzie and Mica again.

"Lizzie, Nick was a walker. You don't feel bad about a walker dying, you feel bad about your dad dying. You loved him and he's gone." I say and pick a flower from the ground, sticking it behind her ear. "Listen, you two. I promised your dad I'd take care of you and I will. We have to separate you two from the others because you've been exposed."

She reaches down and takes my knife from me, sticking it in her pocket. I go in and Leyna calls for me, frantically.

"Caroline! Caroline!" She calls and I run down the hall.

"What's the matter?" I say and I see her hands bloody.

"I-I-I..." She points to the body in bed and I gasp "I killed David and K-Karen because I wanted to help... Now, I don't know!"

(Okay, so I decided to give Leyna a bigger role since she and Rafe aren't on much. From the beginning,I expected it to be Lizzie, so this is good. To me at least. Tell me what you think!


	17. Chapter 17

"Okay, Leyna. You listen to me all right?" I look behind us and grab David's legs "You drag Karen."

We drag them out into one of the outside patios, then I take a gasoline bottle from the stash and run back, pouring them on the bodies. I light a match and drop one on both.

"Go, get out!" I say and we go out, into the other cell block across then go into one of the empty rooms "You do exactly what I say, got it?"

"Y-Y-Yes." She stutters and I hug her.

"Let me take the fall. I'll take the blame. You know NOTHING, no matter what. Okay? Do not tell anyone. Not Daryl, not Rick. Let me tell Daryl and we'll work out a plan." I whisper and she cries, "Go, go to Rick. Tell him you didn't know anything about the sickness and you hugged me. Don't touch Rafe. Tell him we were in the library."

"Okay." She says, calming herself.

"Go, I'll handle this." I say and go out, watching her leave and then I go the back way, hearing someone crying.

I run and see Tyreese on his knees near the scorched bodies. I hear other footsteps and they question him. I stay silent behind Daryl, while they talk I try not to shake while Tyreese has a meltdown. He glares at Rick and starts yelling in his face, Daryl touches his arm and Tyreese rips it away from him.

"All right, man." Daryl says and grabs his arm again, then Tyreese grabs him by his shirt and slams him against the wall.

"Daryl!" I squeak and step forward, but Daryl puts his arm up at me to stop, so I freeze, then back up.

"We're on the same side, Man."

"We know what you're goin' through. We've all lost someone." Rick touches him comfortingly, but Tyreese pushes him away.

"No!" I say and Daryl grabs my arm.

"No, you don't!" Tyreese pushes him to the ground and I pull away, about to step between them.

"No!" I say again, when Tyreese punches him "STOP!"

Daryl grabs him from behind, pulling him away. and I put my hands on Rick's back, helping him up. Rick scowls and punches him, then kicks him. He punches a few more times.

Daryl glances at me and then grabs Rick "Rick! Stop, man!"

"Let go of me!" He attacks Daryl and I cry out, catching Daryl when he flies back.

I put my hands on my face, terrified and Daryl pushes me back a little bit while Rick leaves. I watch Tyreese for a few minutes and then follow Daryl to a cell.

"I need to tell you something that you can't tell anyone else. You have to promise." I say and he narrows his eyes.

"Fine, whatever."

"Leyna killed Karen and David. She was trying to help." I say and he widens his eyes.

"We can't tell anyone, I ain't tell him. We need to make a plan." He says and I look down. "What?"

"I already have a plan. I take the blame if they ask." I say and he shakes his head "You can take care of them if anything happens to me, but you can't take care of me if something happens to them."

"Fine." He says and I take a deep breath.

"Thank you." I say, pushing loose strands of hair out of my face.

We go out, and see a sick Sasha talking to Hershel and Glen. I look at Daryl and then follow Hershel into the building of sick people.

"It's started." The other doctor says and I look at Hershel.

"Another meeting?" I say and he nods.

I grab Daryl, Glen and Michonne. We talk about it slowly and Daryl sends me nervous looks.

"I'm gonna take a group to get the medicine." Daryl says.

"I'll lead the way." Hershel says and Daryl looks at him.

"Out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we'd have to run."

"I'll draw you a map?"

"No, I know where the place is. I'll go."I say and Daryl hesitates, then nods.

"I'm in too." Michonne says and looks at Hershel.

"Daryl, I feel there're precautions we have to take." Hershel stops him.

"Like what?" I say, leaning on my chair.

He says that we need to move the most vulnerable to a different part of the building, the opposite. Like the kids that haven't been exposed. We agree and then I go up to our tower to get ready to go. I grab an extra knife, then go down and see Daryl working on the car. He talks to Michonne and she looks a bit upset.

"Is it just us three, just like old times?" Michonne says when I get up to them.

"No, Bob wants to come." Daryl looks up at her.

"Who else isn't sick?"

"We don't ask Rick." Daryl says and I nod "He wants to stay here with Carl and little ass kicker. Keep 'em safe. Plus, there's enough stuff for him to do here."

"Who else we got?" Michonne puts an arm on her waist and Daryl shrugs, My eyes widen but before I can protest he goes to get Tyreese. Before I go, I help collect all the sick and show them their room. We have a few protests, but it goes okay.

"Caroline?" I hear Lizzie say and I turn to look at her. "Mica said you were here. I don't feel good." She coughs.

"It's okay..." I hug her "Don't worry, baby. You don't worry, cause we're gonna get you better. Just go in there and lie down."

"Will you tuck me in?" She sniffles and I scrunch my eyebrows together.

"You know my friend, Glen? The one that's like a brother to me? He's the best tucker in you'll ever meet. He'll do it, tell him I said to." I open the door and let her in, but she hugs me before going in.

I pull the handkerchief down and cry against a wall. I wipe my face and then go find Daryl.

"I can't go. You two go, I need to stay here to be here for Lizzie and my sister if she gets it." I hand him the map Hershel drew. "Be safe."

"I'll be safer knowing you're safe." He nods and stands by the car, watching me leave.

I go around, collecting buckets of what we have left of the water, gasping when I see Tyreese behind me.

"Sorry." He says and I gulp.

"It's okay. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm goin' on the run with Daryl. But I was wonderin'. I know there's a lot of people in trouble, sick. It's just... I know how you are. You care."

"Th-Thank you." I whisper and grip the bucket I'm holding.

"I was wonderin' if you could check in on Sasha. It'd make me feel better knowing you're the one checking on her. If you can't..."

"No." I say, nodding "No, I'd be happy to."

"Thank you." He starts walking away.

"Wait, what happened to Karen...I'm so sorry. I know how I'd feel if something like that happened to Daryl or my kids." I say and he nods, then walks away.

I throw the bucket on the ground and cry, pushing the big bucket of water. I pull it up and kick the bottom, putting my face in my hands, working out a plan. I rip my knife out of my pocket and go down to where the hoses are. I pull the hoses out and try to clean them out, ignoring the walkers.

I look up and try not to freak out when I see them coming toward me.

"Shit!"

"Carol, run!" Rick hollers.

"Shit!" I finish cleaning and throw the hose into the water and get up.

"Run!"

I stab a walker, watching Rick point his gun shooting one that's latched onto me. I run next to him, going under the gates.

"Piece of cake."I gasp and he glares at me.

"We said we'd do that tomorrow." He says, angrily.

"We don't know if we get a tomorrow." I say, catching my breath and he follows me up to the prison after pumping water.

"That was a stupid thing you did." He says calmly, oh great. Here it begins. "Going out there like that."

"Yes it was." I say, standing still.

"You know you do a lot for us. For the kids. You sacrifice a lot. Is there anything you wouldn't do for the people here? For your kids?"

"No." I say and start walking away.

"Carol." He says and I freeze, turning back "Did you kill Karen and David?"

"Yes." I lie and blink, then walk away. No going back now.

The next day

Maggie tells me that Rick wants me to go on a run with him, but I know what he's doing. I stand by the glass and talk to Lizzie.

"We lost the food in the cell block, so we have to go find more. And whatever else we can find."

"Nobody's died yet."

"Yet?"

"I think a lot of people are going to die. It always happens. Makes me sad, but at least they can come back."

"Lizzie, when they come back they aren't who they were. They'll hurt you, kill you."

"Yeah, but they're something. Someone." She says, hope filling her eyes "I'm little now, if I don't die, I'll grow big. I'll be me. That's how it is. We all change."

"Lizzie, it's not the same thing-"

"You said I was weak. I'm not. I'm strong, so I'm telling you what I think."

"You remember what I said to do in case there's danger."

"Run as fast as I can." She nods.

"You run, and run until your safe. And if it's your life, or your sisters life, you can't be afraid to kill. Understand?"

"Yes."

"You're strong. You're going to live. You, Rafe, Leyna, your sister and me. We're going to survive. I know it. You got your knife? Show me." she shows me "Put your shirt behind it. You have to be able to reach it quickly."

"Yes mom. I mean, Ma'am." She says and my heart skips a beat.

"Don't call me mom." I say and rid my face of any emotion.

"It was an accident."

"Just don't."

"Okay." She looks troubled.

"What is it?"

"I'm not afraid to kill. I'm just afraid."

"You can't be." I say, harshly.

"How?" She says, hurt.

"You fight it and don't give up. One day, it changes. It just changes. Do what you have to do to keep the ones you love alive." I say and look down "Good-Bye Lizzie."

I walk out and get in the car next to Rick. It's silent almost all the way there. I try a few times to ease the silence and get some peace of mind that he isn't going to send me away, but I soon give up. I lean my head against the window and watch out the window. We talk about what he thinks I did and I know I've got him completely believing it's me. That's all that matters to me. We get to a neighborhood and he comes out. I grab an empty bag from the truck and look into a mini van with the keys. It's clean, so it's been there only a day. He gives me orders on what to get and we go into the houses one by one, again in silence. Luckily, the front door to the first house is unlocked and so we don't have to make a lot of noise breaking in.

He motions for me to wait here after I shut the door. He goes into the bathroom and I take watch. I whip around when I hear a walker and he pulls me back. I pull my knife out and do it without hesitation, making my story even likelier. Then, the door creaks open and my eyes widen, then we raise our guns when a couple comes out. They're each holding fruit and they both look scared, I want to go up there and help them but it'd ruin everything.

"We have fruit, here catch." The boy says and we let it drop to the floor "We're, y'know. Don't..."

Rick lowers his gun and they come down slowly. The boy has an injured arm, so I take some of the medicine and a wrap, so I can help him.

"I'm a nurse, hon, don't worry." I say comfortingly "How'd this happen?"  
>"Green house, down the road." He seems comforted by the fact.<p>

"We were looking for a place to crash. The roof fell down and Rain got in so it grew plenty of fruit." The girl says, not so comforted. "We were there until the skin eaters found us."

The boy says something else, but I don't understand so I let him talk.

"How'd this happen?" I ask, when he's done.

"When they came in through the door out the other side, we went to another door pulled the glass out but my shoulder was in the way. Still hurts like a bitch."

"It's dislocated." I say and he rubs it.

"Can you fix it?" The girl says and I look at him.

"Lay on your back." I say and rub my hands together nervously, then tell him what to do.

I start locating it until it pops into place.

"Sit up, hon."

"Is it..."

"Yea."

"It's gonna be sore for a few days." I smile and wipe my hands.

"After the greenhouse, you came here?" Rick questions and I realize he's still there, I curse silently hoping I didn't just ruin everything.

They explain and I question them a few times, but I can barely hold on to their words. I pull my braid over my shoulder again and Rick asks them the three questions. I put all the stuff in a garbage bag and I pull my backpack over my shoulder, explaining about how one of my girls have the virus.

"You two stay here and wait for us.." Rick says and I take a deep breath, before I basically ruin my chances of coming back and ensuring that Leyna won't be expected.

"Or you could help us." I say, Rick glares at me angrily then tries to talk them out of it but they're adamit about it.

I lean against the wall, with my face empty and then go out of the house, having done my job. We go to the next house and I stuff my bag.

"All expired by at least a year." I mutter.

"Did you think it's right, letting those kids come back with us?" He questions and I go to a different cabinet.

"I think it was the humane thing to do." I choose my words slowly and carefully.

"But did you think it was right?" He says, his voice showing frustration.

"Look at us. Digging through drawers, thinking that a few useless things'll help us survive. If they can help, then let's hope they are."

"What if they can't?"

"Then let's hope!" I say and drop my bag, waiting for him to talk again. "Rick, I killed two people and you haven't said a word about it.."

"What do you want me to say?" He looks at me.

"It's not about what you say, it's about facing reality. It always faces us so that we can live."

"So that we can live..." He says, going back to looking.

"That's correct!" I say, still watching him "That's what it always comes down to. You can be a farmer Rick, but you can't be JUST a farmer!" I wait a few silent minutes, getting down on my knees to be on his level. "You were a good leader. Better than I gave you credit for."

"I never took two of our own."

"Just one." I say, basically handing myself the present.

"He was gonna kill me!" He glares at me.

"So were they. They were gonna kill all of us, your Judith. My Rafe! Daryl..."

"You don't know that."

"If you thought it would save Judith or Carl, would you do it then or go back to your stupid crops!? Hope it would all turn out okay? You don't have to like what I did. I don't. You just accept it!" I get up and walk away.

We go out of the house and I see a swing set, one like Rafe used to have. We pick tomato's and talk about life with my father, how I knew how to locate an arm. When we're done, we go back to the house and wait for them to come back. His hand stays by his gun as he stares out the window.

"It's been too long." I say, quietly."We should give them a couple more."

"He might be fine. He really might be. But it doesn't matter because he's not here, and we have to go." Once more, I ruin my chances again. "It was a nice watch." I pick up my bag and go out of the house.

Rick watches me pack the stuff in the car and I try to open the door, but it's locked. I look at Rick and I dread what comes next.

"They might have lived. Karen and David. They might have lived and now they're dead. Not your choice to make. When Tyreese finds out, he'll kill you. Damn near killed me over nothing."

My heart pounds, my sister's always around him. "I can deal with Tyreese."

"And the others find out, they won't want you here. And if they don't come back, if it's just the two of us... with Judith and Carl. With MY children... I won't have you there."

"Rick, it's me..." I cry and shift legs, "No one else has to know. I thought you were done making decisions for everyone."

"I'm making this decision for me."

"I coulda pretended that everything was gonna be fine. But I didn't. I did something, I stepped up. I had to do something."

"No, you didn't."

I sob into my hands and then wipe the tears off, frustrated.

"You think I'm going anywhere without Lizzie, Mica, Rafe and Leyna..."

"You want them to leave? To go out there with you? Lizzie is sick and Mica is TEN YEARS OLD! Leyna and Rafe, they have a life here. Friends."

"Please, I can't..."

"We'll keep them safe. You're not that woman that's scared to be alone. Not anymore. You'll find others. People who don't know and you're going to survive out here." He starts to walk away.

"Maybe..." I say quietly and he takes my stuff out, putting it in the van.

I put more gas in and he lets me keep the gasoline. I shut the lid and take my watch out.

"Dad gave this to me on my sixteenth birthday." I hold it out to him "Please. Shoulda given it away a long time ago."

I get in my car and drive away, sobbing but I don't look back.


	18. Chapter 18

Leyna's POV Episode 8

"Man, you couldn'ta waited till I got back!?" Daryl says and paces, angrily.

I sit on the steps, with my face in my hands. What have I done? I ruined everything I had, if Tyreese finds out he won't be my best friend anymore.

"When Tyreese got back?" Rick says and I shake when Daryl glares at me.

"I coulda handled that" Daryl starts walking away.

"Hey, she killed two of our own." Rick stops him and I stand up, ready to tell him, but Daryl puts his hand up. "She's gonna be alright." He explains why.

"You keep sayin' that but you don't believe it." He says, squinting angrily "Did you think about Rafe? Or those girls?"

"She said, she did it." Yeah, Rick. Just like she promised she would and now look where she is. STUPID, STUPID me. "For us. She did it for us. She wasn't sorry."

"That ain't her! What're we supposed to do about them?!" He says, putting his knuckles on his forehead.

"I told her we'd take care of them. Leyna can help." He goes silent "I haven't told Tyreese yet. Dunno how he'll take it."

"Let's go find out, C'mon Leyna, he's your best friend." Daryl passes me and I flinch, then follow Daryl.

They try to tell him, but he insists on showing them something and it makes me nauseous. Ty thinks it's something that the person who killed Karen and David did. But I didn't do this, I would never, I made it quick and easy and she didn't even know.

"No, sh-they didn't, Ty." I say and he looks at all of us then we hear big booms.

I gasp and follow Daryl out, staying behind him shocked at what I see beyond the gates.

"Rick! Come down here! We need to talk!" The Governor calls and Daryl looks at me and Rafe, who joins us and grabs my arm scared, protectively.

They talk and then we see Hershel and Michonne tied up. I cry out and Rafe clings to me, tightly. Rick hesitates, looking at Daryl before hugging Carl muttering comforting words and going down. Daryl closes the gates and watches for a minute.

"Follow the plan, we can't take many out with just us. Things go south, we tell everyone to get to the bus." Daryl says and looks at me and Rafe.

"How do we know?" Tyreese asks.

"Wait as long as possible. Rafe, stay with me and Leyna with Tyreese." Daryl orders and passes us. "Need you two to fight."

He pulls the crate and hands us all guns and ammo. I grip tightly and Rafe holds it how Caroline showed us. We aim and wait for Rick's orders, just like we used to. We hear gunfire, making me jump but Tyreese shakes his head, I go back to concentrating. Daryl convinces Carl not to shoot. I shake and Tyreese touches me, comfortingly. I see them argue some more and then the governor takes Michonne's machete out, aiming it at Hershel's neck. I grasp the fence and pray to the God he talks about. He slowly moves it away, looks at it and then swings.

"NO!" I hear Rick holler and the girls cry, then gunfire.

I cry and start shooting, the sound nearly deafening me. Michonne disappears and we watch the Governor finish Hershel off, then we shoot harder than we have before. I loose sight of Rafe and I curse loudly when the tank rolls over the first fence. I call for Rafe, but it's useless. I stay next to Tyreese and Sasha, holding my ground. I duck when a shot hits behind us.

"GO!" Tyreese hollers, but I stay next to him and watch Rick disappear.

We run across together, he saves me more than once and pushes me down. I see Maggie join Bob and Sasha, but I lose track of almost everyone else. I see Bob get shot, but that's the last I see of them and the bus, which takes off.

"What do we do, Tyreese?" I scream as we jump into the garden when a whole bunch of enemies are on top of us.

We hear close gun shots, then see Lizzie and Mica holding up guns. Tyreese and I look around, walkers everywhere.

"We gotta get out of here!" Tyreese says, but the girls run the other way and of course, we follow.  
>We grab Judith, then we take off running and I hear Rafe scream, but Tyreese drags me away, dropping my bracelet on the way.<p>

Carolines POV

I'm hanging around the forests, near the prison when I hear the gunshots and I run to help. When I get there, there's smoke everywhere and I don't see anyone, but I'm sure a lot of people are dead. I freeze when I see a head disembodied and I sob when I see who it is.

"Hershel!" I cry and kneel next to him, before getting up.

I look through my bag and curse, I don't have a shovel and I can't go up to the prison. I stay there for a few minutes, then take my knife out and put my hand on my forehead.

"Damnit, Hershel!" I cry and kneel down to his head, hesitating.

I try to force myself, but I end up sticking the knife back in my pocket and sneak up to the prison. I see my sisters bracelet and I pick it up, sneaking for the woods and see footprints as big as Tyreese's with three others. I hesitate, looking back at the walkers that are now seeing me and then take off, tracking them. I follow the tracks for the rest of the day, finding broken branches and tracks in the ground. That night, I sleep in a tree and keep my ears open for screams, voices or other sounds. I wake up, early and start walking again, the tracks even fresher than they were yesterday. I hear a woman scream and I hesitate, I don't recognize it but there's a lot of people at the prison I don't know. She screams again and I start walking, following the tracks that are in that direction. I hear the baby cry loudly and I know I'm close, then I hear it stop. I hear walker snarls and a familiar voice.

"Lizzie?"

I go quicker and take a walker down, seeing Lizzie with a hand over Judith's mouth. I hear a gunshot and I jump, seeing Mica shoot one in the head. I stab the last two, then take the baby.

"Who're you with, hon?" I say, kneeling next to Mica.

"Ty-Tyreese." She says and hugs me, Lizzie does too.

"You're safe now, I'm here. C'mon, let's go find him." I follow his tracks until I see him take a walker down. "Tyreese!"

He turns, and sees me, I catch sight of Leyna and she sobs, crying my name.

"Take her..." I say and hand Lizzie the baby, then Leyna falls to her knees.

"Caroline..." She sobs and I hug her, tightly.

She sobs into my chest.

"Thank God you're okay. I thought I lost you..." She says and I stroke her hair.

"I thank God you're okay. I'm fine on my own. You're safe now. I promise. Be brave, Leyna, cause I might not always be here." I say, helping her up.

"O-Okay." She looks at Tyreese and I take the baby back, hearing more sobs.

"Who's that?" I say and I see a man, soaked with blood on his knees, Tyreese shrugs.

"Stay on the tracks." The man explains about a safe place, then we go onto the tracks on his request.

Leyna takes my hand and we walk down the tracks, she sends me a 'He doesn't know' look and I offer them some water and food from my bag.

"I didn't see you get out." Tyreese says and I shift, once again lying.

"I stayed behind." I explain that I stayed to find more stuff. "I found, um. Hershel and I tried to put him down but..."

"How'd you find us?" Leyna asks and I shrug.

"Daryl's lessons are worth somethin' I guess."

"Hey, look!" Lizzie points at a sign that says Terminus.

That night, Tyreese and the girls lay asleep while Leyna and I talked.

"He drove, right up to our gates. He had a tank, lots of people. We took at least half of them down." Leyna explains and I put an arm on her knee. "It was scary, I tried to stay with Rafe but I got pushed away. I don't know who else made it."

"Daryl said he'd take care of him. You, too, but if he reacted like that when Rick told him, I don't know." I look up at the stars.

"Yeah, the last I saw him he was with Daryl. He'll be alive, protected by Daryl." She says and I look down at Judith. "What do you think about Terminus?"

"I don't know..." I say and I mess with the bottom of my braid.

"You have that feeling again?" She says, yawning.

"Yeah, but if the rest of our people get there, I need to go. You go to sleep now, I'll need you tomorrow. Go on." I say and she hesitates, then goes to lie down next to Mica and Lizzie.

I hear Tyreese dream, then he opens his eyes and falls back asleep. I stay up all night and then the next morning, I fix Tyreese's arm up. I explain to Tyreese about how Lizzie's views on walkers. When I'm done wrapping his arm, we walk down the tracks again. Leyna and I explain the ending of the book we were reading in story time before the parents left. I sniff the air and look around.

"Is that a fire? Smoke?" I say, looking around.

"Yeah." Tyreese says and I hand him the baby.

"We need to go get water." I say and Tyreese stops me.

"I'll go."

"No, Mica and I'll do it. You three stay here and watch her." I say and lead Mica to a pond.

We talk on the way back, I tell her about the time Rafe nearly died because he ran. Then, I tell her she needs to defend herself, but she stays stubborn and I continue lecturing her. She points at a house and I follow her toward it.

"My mommy used to tell me that everything works out the way it's supposed to." She grins and continues walking.

I hesitate, then run up to stand by her side. We go get the others and I kneel down below a tree.

"What are these?" Mica asks.

"Pecans!" I grin at my sister "Like at our old church."

"I love pecans." Leyna says and picks one up, cracking it with her hands.

"We should stay here for a while, a day or two. There's a well, fences. We can eat that deer we saw and then pecans."

"Look!" Lizzie points at the smoke and I look at Tyreese.

"Let's leave it and check the house out."

Tyreese and I go inside, while Leyna picks up pecans. I look inside the rooms, not seeing anything. I hear the baby cry and then gunshots. I run outside to see Mica holding up a gun and Lizzie on the ground with Judith. Tyreese takes the baby and I push Mica's gun down, then she goes to help Lizzie stop hyperventilating.  
>"What's going on?!" Leyna says, then sees the walker "Did they...?"<p>

"Yeah. C'mon, let's go in." I say, quietly and then go in, taking the bowl of pecans.

I sit at the table and talk to Lizzie after setting up a fire. I crack pecans open and eat some, smiling at Leyna. That night, Leyna and I share the master bed and Lizzie and Mica take one of the rooms while Tyreese sleeps on the chair. I wrap my arms around Leyna and fall asleep, better than I have in years but it's missing two people.

"Do you miss Hershel like you miss Dale?" Leyna questions as she sits at the table, the next morning while I boil water on the stove.

"Dale's different. I knew him before..." I hear giggling, then I look out the window.

I gasp and run out, pushing Lizzie away from the walker. I stab it, then Lizzie yells at me and I rock, taking it and argue every once in a while. I hear someone come out, but I'm rocking on my hands then I hear Mica talking to her. I feel a hand touch my shoulder and I look up, seeing Tyreese.

"Would you come help me get water?"

"S-sure." I stutter and he helps me up, we walk to the well with buckets.

"That was pretty rough on you, huh?"

"Yeah. No kid has ever yelled at me. Not even Leyna. I know it's wrong, but..."

"You wanna trade them for your Rafe?" He shrugs and pumps water into his bucket "If it makes it any better, I saw him with Daryl and Beth, leaving."

"Daryl was with Beth?!" I say, dropping my bucket out of shock "I swear, I spend a few years with him and try to get him to want me as much as I do him, and she gets his protection even though she does absolutely nothin' to help! Glory!"

"Don't worry, I've seen the way he looks and talks about you." He grins and I start pumping water.

"Sorry, didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, I think Mica is right though." He smiles at me.

"Bout what, Tyreese?" I say, confused.

"This would be a good place to stay, we don't even have to go to Terminus. I know you, Lizzie, Mica, Judith and Leyna, especially. She and I have become close. You, I'd trust you with my life. Anyone's life. You wouldn't hurt anybody unless you had to. You've passed that on to Leyna and Rafe."

"It's a weakness." I say and pick the bucket up.

"It can also be a strength too." He smiles at me and I smile back.

"We'll come back here, or I will. I need to go see if Rafe is still alive and Daryl..." My heart fills with pain "I need to know if he's there. If Rafe really is gone, he's gonna be the one that knows for sure. I'll come back if-"

I hear screams and I drop my buckets, luckily they land straight up. I run in the direction and see Lizzie and Mica running toward us. Mica gets stuck, Lizzie runs back to help her out and runs to us.

"Get behind us!" I holler and take my hand-gun out, shooting each of the walkers.

Leyna stands next to me and helps, looking shaken up. When they're all dead, Mica explains why they left and I send glances at Tyreese. He looks how I feel and my stomach twists, how am I going to tell him?

"Let's go inside." I say, breaking my silence and going inside, putting my gun in the back of my pants.

"Caroline!" Leyna says and I ignore her and sit at the table, cracking pecans "Caroline..."

"I'm fine!" I snap and Lizzie sits next to me, handing me pecans.

Leyna watches me, hurt and then goes to our room.

"Do you understand them now?" I say, when it gets dark and Tyreese is asleep.

"I understand what I have to do." She looks at me, sadly.

"Good. Because I want you to be safe. I want you to be strong, like Leyna, not weak like me. I want to tell you girls something."

"Yes, Ma'am?" they both look at me

"You know Hershel, right?" they nod "He and I got close, I helped him save Carl's life. I even helped save his life and he let us stay until we found Rafe at his farm." I swallow, with tears in my eyes "Anyway, I found him... Before I came here. I should have put him out. I didn't because I'm weak. I have a lot of regrets about things I should have done. I should have been the one to put my best friend, Dale, out of his misery. But I was too weak, Daryl did it for me. You can't afford to be like me." I look at Mica "You are too much like me, hon."

That night, I sleep on the couch with Judith on my chest. I wake up and I feel Tyreese shaking me, gently.

"Hey, I'm gonna check the perimeter. Leyna's gonna stay and watch the kids. Wanna come?"

"Sure." I yawn and put Judith down on her blanket, then slip my boots on.

We walk around, twice.

"So, you and Leyna having some family trouble? You didn't sleep with her last night."

"I sleep better on a couch." I say, which is true. "I always crashed on my friends couches. Most of the time it was..." I shut my mouth and continue walking.

"Dale's? I've heard a lot about him." Tyreese says "You two were close, even before this all went down?"

"I helped with his wife's chemo." I say and nod "They were lovely people."

"So, you were a doctor?"

"No. I was a nurse and doc in training." I say and stay silent, but it was comfortable silence like I would have with Michonne or Glen. "Glory, did you see Glen get out?!"

"Um, Maggie put him on the bus. The bus got out." He nods.

"Thank God!" I say, and let out a breath.

"I heard you two are close too."

"We're like siblings. Almost as much as Merle and I were. Then, Merle was a total ass." I laugh, but I'm glad Daryl isn't here. Just the thought of bringing him up would kill me, it hurts him. "You must miss Sasha. She seemed really tough." I trace my tattoo, nervously. I sense when something's up.


	19. Chapter 19

We turn to go back and I gasp when I see Lizzie's hand bloody and standing over Mica's dead body. My sister is tied up on the ground next to Judith.

"I didn't hurt her brain, don't worry! I had to do this! You wouldn't understand any other way..." Lizzie says and I put on a calm face.

"Okay, Lizzie. It's great, actually. Um."

"Don't! Don't shoot her!" She puts her gun up and I freeze, putting my hands up.

"I won't. I promise. But um, Judith can't walk. Don't you think it'd be better to wait?" I shrug, but I'm sobbing inside.

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Lizzie says and turns to Leyna.

"I'll do my sister, and we can be like the same. Okay?" I pretend to be excited.

"Really?" She says, excited.

"Yeah, I'll tie Mica up too so she won't wander off." I say and then stick my gun in the back of my pants. "Why don't you go with Tyreese and watch over the baby? I'll be RIGHT there."

"Okay!" She says and Tyreese goes, with the baby in his hands, inside.

When they're gone, I sob and untie my sister, then kneel next to Mica. I take my knife out and fiddle with it.

"Want me to do it?" Leyna says, weakly.

"No, I have to do this. For Dale. For Hershel. Most important, for her." I say and Leyna puts a hand on my shoulder "I have to be stronger. I have to."

I take a deep breath and then, put her out. I stand up, trying to be numb and go into the kitchen first washing my knife, then sitting at the table. I twirl my knife and Tyreese comes in.

"I asked her, and she's the one feeding the walkers the rats and she hammered a rabbit to a piece of wood. I'm wondering if she's the one that killed Karen and David." Tyreese says, and I look up, seeing his eyes filled with tears. "I don't feel safe sleeping under the same roof with her and the baby. We can't separate."

"No, she didn't." I say and look back down. "I know what we have to do. We aren't safe any other way."

"We can't-" Leyna starts.

"We have to! There are things you have to do that aren't right, but you still do them." I say and stand up. "I'll...I'll do it."

"I can..."

"No, pack your bags. Cause I'm going to bury them and then you and I are leaving. Tyreese, you can come if you want." I stand up and go into Lizzie's room, with a smile but I'm dreading it.. "Can I talk to you, hon?"

"Sure, Miss Caroline." She smiles and we walk into the field.

"I was thinkin' maybe we could pick some flowers, for Mica when she wakes up." I say, quietly and she grins.

"That's a good idea."

I fall silent and I don't notice I let my face fall.

"Are you mad at me?" She cries "You're mad at me!"

"No, Lizzie, I'm not mad at you!" But she goes on her rants and steps in front of me, towards the flowers.

I take my gun out and tears slip out.

"Look at the flowers, Lizzie. Look at the flowers, baby." I cry and ignore the faces popping into my head. "I love you, Lizzy. I love you..." I close my eyes, then open them and pull the trigger.

I walk toward the two crosses that're planted in the ground, in honor of somebody's loved ones. I grab a shovel and start digging, putting my emotions into the force. Tyreese comes over with two bodies wrapped in sheets and sets them in the holes, gently. Suddenly, I have the image of Andrea putting Amy in her grave and a wave of emotions hit me. I still have Leyna, that's the most important thing. I help Tyreese bury them, then I go in and grab my bag, then the baby. I don't look back as we start to follow the tracks again.

"The fire's still going." Tyreese says and I shake my head.

"The smoke is white, it's not anymore." I say and then look back at the road.

We walk for a few days and things are just about uneventful. That night, when we eat, I look at Leyna and then cough.

"Tyreese. I need to tell you something." I say and he looks up, making my stomach jolt. "Um. It wasn't Lizzie who killed Karen and David..."

"How do you know?" He says, shifting.

"I know, because-"

"I'm the one that killed them." Leyna says and I whip my head toward her, shocked. "Everyone thinks it's Caroline, but it was me."

Tyreese goes silent and I put my face in my hands.

"Thank you for telling me the truth." Tyreese says with a tight voice. "Did she suffer?"

"N-No." She says "I did it quickly and she was asleep so she had no idea."

"Let me..." He puts his face in his hands "I forgive you, but I won't forget. Only because you told me and told me the truth."

"Can we, uh, only keep it between us four?" I say, quietly.

"Four?" Tyreese looks confused.

"You, Me, Leyna and Daryl." I look down "I tell him everything. I didn't tell him until after you three..."

"All right. I'll take watch." Tyreese says and I hesitate, then lay down and fall asleep.

I roll over, feeling strange and see Daryl. I gasp, then he sits up and grins at me.

"Miss me, Car?"

"You bet, Pookie." I tease and he kisses me, gently.

"Don't trust them. No matter what they say, they'll try to convince you. But you have to trust me and don't believe them and come save us." Daryl says and frowns, then his eyes roll back.

"Daryl!?" I say and see blood flowing from his neck.

I scream and cry, before waking up.

"Daryl!" I say and sit up, seeing a Terminus sign in front of me "Termites!"

I stand up and pace, thinking hard.

"What's the matter, Caroline?"

"Tyreese, are you able to dream about something that's really happening to someone you love?" I say and look at him.

"Um, I guess if you believe in clairvoyants." He shrugs.

"Wouldn't you have to touch someone then?"

"I dunno, I guess if you already have your instincts, then I guess you'd be able to. Why?"

"They're in trouble. Terminus, I've been working this out anyway. Terminus means 'An end'. What if that's not the type of end we want?" I say, and they look at me, realizing I might be right and not just crazy, which I am.

"So, we shouldn't go...?" Leyna starts.

"You three shouldn't go. I'm going, to save them. I have to, if Daryl and Rafe are there, not to mention Sasha, Bob, Michonne, Glory Glen too!" I say and pull my bag over my shoulder.

"I'm going too." Leyna says and picks her bag up.

"You're right. Sasha could be there." Tyreese "We can make it today, it's clo- Caroline. I can't."

He motions for a walker and I take my knife out. I stab it and fall to the ground due to its weight.

"Crap, Tyreese, we gotta go!" I say when I see dozens of walkers.

We start to run, when we hear gunfire and they follow the sound.

"Think that's Terminus?" Tyreese says and I wait for the walkers to be all gone.

"Yeah. Either they're being attacked or vice versa. Let's go. Found some tracks. C'mon." I follow the car tracks and find a man, talking on a walkie-talkie, I take my gun out.

"Yeah, the samurai, the younger boy and the kid with the hat." He says and I aim it at his head "Damnit."

"Drop the walkie-talkie." I say, angrily "NOW!"

"Calm down, Car." Leyna says and I glare at her.

"Who are you?" The man says.

"Friends of the Samurai and the kid with the hat. The younger boy, does he have brown hair, olive complexion and brown eyes? About thirteen?" I say, my voice really tight and dangerous.

"Yeah." He says and I nearly pull the trigger. "Killed him off almost as soon as we got him, same with the bald headed black guy!""Damn you, son of a-" I start to pull the trigger, but Tyreese takes it from me.

"He's lying." Tyreese says "Just trying to pull your chord."

"What's in here." I say and grab his bag while Leyna ties his wrists.

I open it and see the perfect kit to destroy Terminus, enough for me to get the group out at least. I help them drag him into the house and I pack a bag, cutting a hole in a blanket, so I can wear it over my clothes.

"I want to come with you. Rafe's my family too and so are the others." Leyna begs and I shake my head.

"I don't want you to get hurt. If I'm not back in a long time, you two hit the road. I don't want this getting out of hand and the baby to get hurt. I promise, the way I'm feeling no termite can touch me." I say and shift under the weight of the weapons "I love you, Leyna. I'll be back. Stay, so help me. If I find out you left, you'll regret it."

"I promise I'll stay here." She says and glances at the man "I'll probably go find supplies."

"Good. Stay safe." I say and then step out of the house.

I see a walker, so I stab it and then cut it open. I barely even smell the blood, which is really rare for me, and wipe it all over the blanket, like Glen and Rick did. I wipe my hands on the blanket, wiping all the guts off and then wipe mud all over my face. I hesitate, taking my spare knife and cutting my hair so it's chin lengthed . I stick branches in my hair and tangle it. I can wash it out. I walk for the gates, then kneel when I see them carry Daryl, Rick, Glen and a few others.

"I'm coming to get you, my love." I murmur and set up the bomb thing.

I hesitate, then light it when they disappear into a building. The fence explodes and walkers start pouring in. I shoot a few people, then jog over to where the walkers are and then act like one, praying I won't get shot. Luckily, I make it in and shoot a few people, attracting a few walkers. I run into a room and slam the door, then look around. I walk, almost blindly, into another opening. I gasp, when I see Daryl's crossbow and I put it over my shoulder, under the blanket. I take Rick's watch and stick it in my pocket, also grabbing Rafe's ring, the one that used to be his fathers and slip it onto my neck. I go out, into a room with candles and I look around, in horror.

"Drop your weapons!" I hear a female voice say and I turn around, shooting at her. I kick her gun away and she attacks me, wrestling me to the ground. I kick her off and stand up, aiming my gun at her.

"Where are they?" I say and she cries.

"The signs... they used to be true. This world changes you." She says and shakes her head.

"Tell me!" I shoot her leg.

"Do it, we had to do what we had to do too!"

"Fine, I won't kill you." I say and open the door, letting walkers come in one by one.

I pass them and try to find my way out. I pray that they got out, it's been at least an hour now. I run into the forest and throw my blanket off, running my hands through my hair, getting the branches and twigs out of my short hair. I continue walking toward the camp and freeze when I see Daryl leaning against a tree. I see them all staring at me, in wonder and amazement but I stay paralyzed. Daryl looks at me and his face fills with emotion. He runs toward me, tackling me in a hug. He picks me up slightly and sobs quietly.

"It's okay... I'm here now." I whisper and interlace my fingers in his hair.

"Marry me?" He says, out of breath and only I can hear.

"Finally." I cry "Yes."

He lets go, his face wrinkles up with tears again and he sets his head on my chest. I stroke his hair gently and he lifts his head, kissing me gently then stands back. Rick hugs me and Glen comes forward too.

"Did you do this?" Rick looks at me and I nod, grinning.

Daryl takes my hand and Glen hugs me.

"Welcome back, sis."

"We have some catching up to do. First off..." I notice Rafe and Bob missing. "Rafe...?"

"I tried... They wouldn't let me take him. They said they were dead." Daryl says and I nod, ignoring the tears running from my eyes.

"That's what the man said." I say, then explain everything, leaving out Judith. I want that to be a surprise "We should go back. They're waiting."

"Lead the way." Rick says and Daryl and I take the lead.

"Proud of you, those tracking lessons did you well." Daryl says and I look at him, then look straight ahead. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep your little boy safe, again."

"It's okay." I say and we drop the subject.

We get to the house and Tyreese comes out, holding Judith. Leyna sees me and hugs me gently, then Daryl. I lean against the car, still holding his cross bow and my backpack. I look down and when I hear branches crack, I look up and see Rafe and Bob a few yards away. I drop all my stuff and run to him, without hesitation. I pick him up and sobs rack through my body, I fall to my knees and hug him closer.

"Thank God, thank God, thank God..." I sob and I feel a hand on me.

"I thought you were..." Daryl trails off and hugs us.

"He's alive again, Daryl. He's still here." I grin, happily and I stand up, still holding Rafe. "Thank you, SO much Bob. I owe you my life. I do."

"He's a good, brave kid! I'm just glad I wasn't alone." He smiles and I hug him.

"You brought my baby back. I can't ever repay that debt." I say and Daryl takes my hand, shaking his.

"Nice to see ya again, kiddo!" Leyna says and hugs him.

"We need to get out of here." Rick says after a few more minutes.

"Yeah." I wipe my face "Here."

I hand Rick his watch, Daryl his crossbow and Rafe his ring.

"Let's go."

Daryl and I walk in the middle, with Rafe, Leyna, Tyreese and Sasha behind us. Maggie and Glen stand in the front of us. The new part of the group in the very back.

"Oh yeah, what were you doing with Beth?" I raise my eyebrow and Rafe snickers.

"We had a few drinks. Moonshine, right, Daryl?" Rafe looks at Daryl.

"You gave him ALCHOL?!"

"And it begins!" Glen grins at us and I playfully slap the back of his head.

"I, um. Did you know that guy has the cure?" Daryl changes the subject and I fall for it.

"You do?" I fall behind and walk next to the guy with the mullet.

"Yeah." He says, uncomfortably and I narrow my eyes, my instinct cutting in.

"Well, my dad was a scientist at the CDC and I'm a nurse slash doctor in training slash part time scientist. Could you explain?"

"Oh boy, this is gonna be fun." Michonne grins and I grin, I'm glad to be back.

He explains his theory and I listen carefully, looking for a reason to catch him lying but it seems real enough. I have to watch him carefully though.


	20. Chapter 20

We keep walking, I glance back and see the smoke still gray. We continue to walk, only stopping once for water. I follow Tyreese and Leyna down to the nearest pond.

"I don't know if I can tell them about the girls, or that you two..." Tyreese trails off.

"I can't. I won't." I say, filling Daryl's jug up.

"So it's agreed we keep it between us?" Tyreese looks at me and then Leyna.

"Yeah." Leyna almost whispers and I just nod, then follow him up to the rest of the group.

We continue walking, silently but it's a good silent. I stay next to Daryl, guilt and sadness creeping up behind me. He keeps sending me looks and I know he'll question me. I ignore his eyes on my face and just stare forward.

"I got this one." Michonne says, interrupting my thoughts and reaches for her machete. Instead of being embarrassed, she laughs and beats its head with her gun.

We continue to walk until the sun starts going down.

"Wanna keep watch with me?" Daryl asks and looks at Rick.

"Sure." I say and set my bag down, glancing at a new girl, Tara is her name.

She looks guilty about something, instinct again.

"Can I talk to you?" Rick asks and I swallow, glancing at Rafe.

Rafe nods, sitting next to Bob and I relax, I'm fond of Bob. Even before, he and I talked a lot.

"Sure." He leads me away from the group.

"I'm sorry. I kicked you out and I can't help feeling that it would have gone differently if you were there." He says, genuinely upset and I look down, he doesn't know he kicked the wrong person out.

"It's okay, I don't-"

"I have to ask you, I kicked you out and you're on your own. I have to ask if we can join you."

I stay silent for a few seconds, then answer "Yes, that goes without even saying. You guys protected my family, you guys ARE my family. "

"I only told Daryl, we didn't tell Tyreese."

"Right. I guessed." I tell the half truth, not adding Daryl knew and Tyreese knows, but I can't talk about it. "I think Daryl wants me to come with him now."

"He loves you, you know. And those two. He's my brother, and I like to think of you as my sister as well. You took care of me from the beginning." Rick stops me. "I thank you for that, for saving Carl and taking care of Judith when you had no reason to."

"I had a reason, Rick. She's my family as much as Rafe and Leyna and Li-" I stop, swallowing and turn, going towards where Daryl disappears to.

I grip my gun and sit close to him, he keeps me warm during the cold weather.

"So you were with Beth, huh?" I can't help feeling jealous, I want to be the only woman in Daryl's life. But, I can't expect him to be stuck on me if I die. "I heard she took care of you."

"Yeah. She helped me mourn. I thought..." He squints "I thought I lost you."

"Glory, I did too."

"Did you, um, see Hershel?"

"Yes." I hide my emotions "I didn't have time to put him out, I tracked Tyreese and Leyna. Lizzie and Mica too." I force their names out.

"What...?"

"Complicated." It goes quiet and he watches me, rubbing the top of my hand "I wish I could redo. Go back to the Damn romance novel. I can't talk about it, Daryl. Not yet. Please."

"Mmkay." He nods "Don't be jealous over Beth. I think Carl has his two eyes focused on her. I have mine on you, and you know I ain't..."

"I know-"

He stands up abruptly and I do the same, readying my gun.

"What is it?" I whisper and He steps forward, my muscles tense up, I see his do the same.

"It's not what I hear, more of what I feel. Like you and that boy that keeps dyin' and comin' back." He whispers, sending me a crooked smile.

The rest of the night, I lean against his legs and my head in his lap.

"I like your hair like that." He whispers when I'm half asleep.

"Need to fix it, doesn't look right." I murmur and he plays with my hair gently.

"No, it's perfect."

I fall asleep as soon as he says that, best sleep I've had in weeks. I'd trade a nice comfy bed for Daryl anyday.

I wake up, with Daryl shaking me gently.

"What?" I nearly yell, seeing it's barely even light out.

"I'm huntin'. You wanna come?" Daryl shifts under his crossbow.

"Yeah. Lemme..." I grab my bag, that also has Daryl's and Rafe's stuff in it.

We hunt squirrels until it's bright out, then we follow their trail. I hear their voices and we come out of the trees, Rick aims his gun and Daryl raises up his hands.

"We surrender."

I laugh, putting my arm over Rafe's shoulder and interlacing my fingers with Daryl's. It's silent out until an abrupt screaming jerks us out of the silence.

"Come on dad!" Carl says and Rafe looks at me, I know he won't move if I tell him to "Come on!"

"We have to help him!" Rafe says and I nod, then follow everyone toward the noise.

We come up and see a man, in a preacher outfit and walkers all around him.

"Help! Help me!" He kicks wildly and Daryl follows me forward, along with the others, stabbing them one by one.

Daryl stabs one that I go after, I stick my tongue out at him, trying to act normal. I stick my knife back in my pants and help him down, Daryl sends me a look.

"Are you bit?" I ask, he shakes his head and answers the questions "What's your name?"

"Father Gabriel."

"If you're a preacher, shouldn't we all just have one father?" I remember that lesson in a service I went to before everything happened.

"Well, then uh just call me Gabriel." He stutters and I shrug.

"So you're a preacher? Got a church?" Daryl asks, looking at me and before I can stop him, he says "So, you could marry us too?"

I curse silently and shift uncomfortably.

"I-I guess." He nods "I do have a church."

He leads us and I stay in the back.

"So, you'll be Caroline Dixon now." Rafe grins and I blush.

"I guess so." I bend over, so he can ride on my back. "Glory, you're getting heavy."

I watch Bob and Sasha kiss, with Tyreese beaming.

"You're right, Daryl. It is a damn romance novel, I'm glad we're almost back to normal."

Daryl grins crookedly and I punch his arm, playfully. My heart pounds and we get to the church, Rick unlocks the doors and we go in, searching for walkers. There isn't any and so we get everyone else in. I sit in the back, with Rafe's head in my lap and I play with his brown hair. Daryl glances at me and then at the preacher, mutters something in Gabriels ear. Why is he so adamant about getting married now? Gabriel nods and Daryl nods his head for an empty room. I hesitate, then get up and go in silently.

"What's the matter, pookie?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Nothin', I was just thinkin' that since we've run into this chance, we should take it." Daryl shrugs.

"I can, but I need rings, I guess." Gabriel says and my hand goes to my neck.

" My grandfather wanted me to give this to the man I marry." I take the hidden ring out, showing them. "You could just use this one for me."

I take another ring off my engagement finger, I've always kept two on there. Two on almost every finger.

"That's good." Daryl takes my hand as Gabriel takes the rings.

The ceremony is quick, less than five minutes and we put the rings on each others fingers, boom, I'm Mrs. Dixon. I've always dreamnt of this, but I'm having a hard time with the guilt of Lizzie and Mica and Karen and David. He kisses me gently and I follow him out, Gabriel is to go with Rick, Sasha, Bob and Michonne. Daryl and I are going to find other supplies. It's silent the way there and he keeps watching me, like he's worried. We walk for ten more minutes and I lose it.

"Stop watching me like that!" I say, throwing my bag down.

"Like what?"

"Like you want me to tell you everything I did to keep Judith, Tyreese and Leyna safe!" I lean against a tree and sob "I did something I can never take back, Daryl!"

"It's okay, it's okay." He hugs me and I sob into his chest.

"You're not supposed to know about Karen and David, or what else happened." I wipe my face "We should go."

"You okay now?"

"I'll never be the same, but I'll learn to be okay." We walk until we find a car, with a battery thingy, I have no idea what it is but Daryl seems to.

He turns it on and we go back, I shiver and he wraps his arm around me. It's almost dark before we get back and I sit in between Bob and Daryl, with Rafe asleep on my lap. Tara, one of the new girls, hands me a glass of wine and I drink it slowly, thinking about that car. When it gets loud, I pick Rafe up and sneak out silently, without being noticed. I get to the car and set Rafe in, gently, then shut the door.

I look at the back, trying to figure it out when I hear footsteps. I aim my gun, jumping when I see Daryl.

"Where you goin'? Gonna leave me when I just got married to you?"

"I can't deal with what I've done. When I look at Tyreese and Leyna, the way Rick looks at me too..." I trail off "Come with me. She'll be fine, she loves Tyreese."

"All you have to do is ask. Can't you wait till morning?" He squeezes my hand and I start, but he runs around and into the car, "Get in!"

A car passes with a white cross with a circle around it and starts the car, driving after drive is silent, except for the walker noises every once in a while. Rafe is still sound asleep and I pray he stays that way, I don't want any noise bugging them. The car bumps as we run over a walker and Daryl glances at me, I stare out the window. I look around and I sit up straight, I recognize this place. We're in Atlanta.

"Oh my god..." I whisper and he just stays silent, stopping when they do.

He turns off the car and we sit in silence.

"Runnin' outta gas." He whispers and I hear their car door open, my heart pounds.

"Caroline?!" Rafe sits up and I turn around.

"Shh, it's okay baby. Just be quiet. We're savin' Beth." I look out the window, not sure if she's worth risking our lives "Is she worth this, Daryl?"

"Yes." He says shortly and I stare out the window, Rafe squeezes my hand.

Then, I hear a pound on the window and it's followed by moans, but it doesn't stop me from jumping. Rafe starts shaking as the man turns around and starts toward us, then gets back in his car and drives off. Daryl tries to start the car, but it doesn't start.

"What now?" Rafe's voice quivers and I look at Daryl.

"I know a place we can stay. Not far from here." I say, unwillingly. I don't want to go back there.

"Right." Daryl says, trying to read my face.

"Follow me." I say, rolling down the window and stab the walker, then get out.

"I will." Daryl says, loyally.

I take Rafe's hand and lead the way to the building, hearing a few walkers here and there. Finally, we walk through the building to where Rafe, Leyna and I stayed a few days before the apocalypse. I help him move the desk and we go into the little apartment things with the main office. I lead him to our old room and shut the door. I make Rafe sleep on the top and I put my bag up with him.

"I'll take first watch." I say and go to the window.

"You don't have to, Car." Daryl says and I turn to look at him, pushing my short hair behind my ears. Boy, did I miss my long hair.

"I know, you sleep." I repeat and look at him.

"You don't have to." He lays back and I sigh.

I lie next to him and face him.

"You don't have to hide anythin' from me." He looks at me and my breath deepens, the tension here is thick.

"I know. I just need time to..." I go silent when I hear banging and Daryl's the first one up.

I take my gun off the bunk bed and Rafe moves in his sleep, I hesitate but follow Daryl. We find a glassed in area and there's a little girl around Rafe, Lizzie and Mica's age with a woman about mine. I flinch, then go to open the door but Daryl stops me.

"Don't. You don't have to."

"I know." I whisper painfully and go in for it again, but he stops me.

I sigh and follow him back to our room, shutting the door. I sleep on the bottom with Daryl and wake up alone. I look around the room, terrified of what I might find. I see Rafe's gone too and I look out the window and see a fire. I grab my gun and go out, seeing Daryl carrying a body the size of Rafe. I come closer and stand next to him, he takes my hand and I look at him gratefully. Rafe is sitting on the ground, reading a book silently and I take a deep breath.

"We should keep moving." I say, breaking the silence and follow them back to our room.

I pack the book that was Lizzie's and see Daryl zip his bag up. What would I do without him? Soon, we go out and freeze when we find a whole bunch of walkers where we need to go. Daryl opens his bag, dropping his bag, and takes out a pad of paper, lighting it. He throws it away and I pick his bag up and follow him through the garage. He shoots a walker, then takes the arrow out and we keep going until we get into the building. We walk until we find a walker camp, literally.

There are two tents and about five sleeping bags, all with at least one walker in there. One by one, Daryl and I stab them but leave the ones in the tent alone. The door is chained shut, but open just enough for me to squeeze through. I go in first, then Rafe and then Daryl. The room looks untouched and there's a laptop open on the desk. Daryl follows me to the window and reaches for my gun.

"Can I see this for a minute?" He asks and I nod, giving it to him "Look at this!"

"What is it?" I look through the microscope on my gun.

"Right there." He points and I see a white van with a cross on it, on top of a bridge. Half of it hangs off.

"Right." I say and pull the strap around my shoulder, then grab my bottle "I'm gonna refill."

"Do you really not think we can save her?" Daryl asks and I stare at the bottle until it's full, then I take a sip.

"I don't think we can save anyone anymore, Daryl. We're alive. I want to keep it that way." I say and hand it to him.

"We're gonna save her." He says, as if it's final "C'mon. Maybe we can find something in the van."

I nod and go out of the door first, being stupid I slide my gun out first. When I come out, I see a black boy holding my gun and I scowl.

"Daryl, don't." I say and hold on to Rafe when he screeches, terrified of the boy aiming at us.

"What..." He see's the boy and scowls, stepping in front of me. "You don't have to do this, kid."

"Drop your crossbow, please." The boy says and Daryl looks at me for my advice and I nod, reluctantly.

He drops it and kicks it over to him, angrily. The boy takes it and cuts the tents open.

"Y'all will be okay." He starts running and I aim, but Daryl pushes my gun toward a walker.

"I wasn't gonna kill him! I was aimin' for his leg!" I say, honestly and Daryl shakes his head, I help him finish off the walkers and then comfort Rafe "Hey, it's gonna be okay."

"Is h-he comin' back?" He stutters and I look at Daryl.

"I don't think so, baby. C'mon. I'm sorry I got you into this." I say and take his hand, following Daryl out.

He basically ignores me and I scowl, grabbing onto him.

"I didn't aim to kill, Daryl! You have to believe me!" I say and he whips away, dropping his bag.

The book I had back when we lived in the tiny apartment on Living with Child Abuse is in his stuff and I freeze, looking at him. I forgot he went through the same crap I did. He picks his bag up.

"I hope so."

I follow him silently down the stairs and onto the bridge where the van is. I kill a few walkers and look at the van.

"You ain't thinkin' about goin' in are ya?" I exclaim as he opens the door "Stay here, Shoot and stab." I hand Rafe my gun and go in beside Daryl.

I go through the papers and freeze, this is the hospital I worked at.

"It's um. The hospital." I say aloud after a while "It's the one I worked at and the one where Leyna, Rafe and I was born at."

"She's at a hospital?"

"By the looks of-"

"Caroline!" Rafe calls and I look at Daryl before running out, I take my knife and stab as many as I can, but we're overrun.

"Get in and buckle up." Daryl orders and I pull Rafe inside, shutting the van doors. I buckle Rafe in beside me, pulling an arm around him so he doesn't go anywhere. "Ready?"

"Wait, Daryl." I put my hand on his.

"Yes?"

"I love you, Mr. Dixon." I say, softly. "More than you'll ever know."

"I love you too, Mrs. Dixon." The same fear that's in my eyes are in his and we lean forward, feeling the car crash.

I position so I get all the damage rather than Rafe and it succeeds. I look around when we land, light-headed and Daryl unbuckles me, pulling my face in his hands.

"Say something, Car." He orders and I blink.

"Something, Car." I grin and he shakes his head with a smirk.

"C'mon you two, let's go."

I put an arm around Daryl and Rafe, we limp to the nearest alleyway. He hands me the jug of water and I shake my head, stubbornly.

"I'm fine." I lie and Rafe rolls his eyes, then Daryl forces it into my hands.

"Drink, Caroline."

"Fine." I say and drink some, thankful that he's stubborn too.

We sit here for a little while and then I put the jug in my bag, which Rafe carries now.

"Ready to go?" Daryl asks and I nod, then wrap my arm around his shoulder.

I secretly enjoy having Daryl touch me like this without hesitation, it took me forever to get him to and now, he does. We go up into a building and walk around, hearing screams and gunfire. I look at Daryl and he nods, I'm the first to go forward. I see one of Daryl's arrow's in a walker. He takes it out and kills the walker with his new machete. Suddenly we hear a scream closer and I step around the corner, where the boy flings a walker at me. I try to kill it, but despite my efforts Daryl has to help me. He helps me up and I motion for him to go.

"Go ahead, we're right behind you, baby." I say and Rafe helps me limp behind him.

I watch Daryl push the boy against the bookcase, making it fall on him and Daryl takes a pack of cigarettes out of his bag, as if trying to piss me off.

"Help me!" He hollers and I step forward, Daryl lights it and goes in the other direction.

"Daryl!" I exclaim and he shakes his head, still going for the stairs when a walker gets through the door.

"He tried to kill you." He scowls and Rafe steps back.

"So?" I say and step forward to help the boy, when an arrow flies through its head.

"See? You still believed people can be saved." He says, proving his point and I stand there, dumbfounded. It was a trick.

He lifts the book case up and the boy scrambles to his feet and to the window, freaking out.

"Are you hurt, kid?" I ask and he shakes his head, still out of breath. "Right."

I hold Rafe closer and then the boy freaks out.

"They heard! We have to go!"

"Who's they?"

"The people at the hospital! We have to go, you don't know what they do!" The boy limps toward the door.

"Wait! Do you know a blonde?" Daryl says, getting excited and The boy freezes.

"You mean Beth?" He says and nods "She helped me get out. That's why I needed the guns, to go help them. I'm sorry."

"We'll help you get her out." I say and take Rafe's hand "We'd better go. Know a way out?"

He nods and explains where to go, I follow his orders. We run, I half run with the limp and all.

"You go first, Car." Daryl nods and Rafe stays behind me as I run into the street, blacking out as soon as I do. The last thing I hear are tires screeching.

(Now we're caught up until tomorrows episode.)


	21. Chapter 21

The next time I wake up, I hear a familiar voice talk and it's followed by an unfamiliar one. I feel pain everywhere, but I ignore it. I peak out of my eye, tensing up ever so slightly and I see Beth facing me. Her eye meets my open one and her eyes tell me 'Don't. Talk. Close your eyes.' I do as she says, but I go unconscious.

"Caroline." Beth says, her eyes are frantic "Are you awake?"

"Mhmm." I say and struggle to get up.

"No, don't. You were hit by a car." She motions for me to sit. I do.

"Daryl? Rafe? Oh god, where are they?" I gasp, frantically "I have to make sure they're okay. Are they here? Are we at the hospital?"

"They aren't here. They were in Atlanta? How do you know about the hospital?"

"Yea, Daryl, Rafe and I came lookin' for you." I readjust, grunting. "We saw the cross and we read about this hospital. I worked here for a while. Oh yea, we ran into your friend Noah. He's determined to save you."

"Noah's all right?" She's relieved, she takes my hand "The group is lookin' for us. Rick, Daryl, even your sister is helpin'."

"Yeah. We saved his ass." I roll my eyes "How do you know? I mean, I know my sister or Daryl or Maggie and Glen, but everyone else?"

"They have two of the hospitals' people. I have a wheel chair here. She said to get you when you're awake. I wanted to fill you in real quick." She looks nervous "Here lemme..."

I take her arm and allow her to help me into the wheelchair, she pushes me out. New people. That's not my area of expertise, but I know Daryl's almost here. A group surrounds me and we're away from two doors in the front. I hear footsteps. My heart pounds, my instincts are telling me something bad's gonna happen.

"Beth took good care of you." The man in a white coat, I'm guessing the doctor, says.

"I know. Thank you for that, by the way." I look up at her and she smiles down at me.

The door opens and Rick comes in first, then I see my sister, Tyreese and Sasha. Noah, Rafe and then the face I'm needing most, Daryl comes into view. I automatically tense, our eyes meet and I see the two cops that were kidnapped.

"Is he yours?" One of the cop asks.

"Hmm?" I look up at him.

"The man with the crossbow, is he yours?"

"He's my husband if that's what you mean." I twirl the rings on my finger.

"He's a looker." She says and I grind my teeth.

"Like I said, taken."

"Yea, so drop it!" Beth adds and I feel her put a hand on my shoulder.

"Take her first." The leader, who Beth says to be Dawn, orders.

A stranger takes me up and Daryl seems anxious to take the handles on my wheelchair. He doesn't take it right away though, he pulls me up into a tight hug and I groan.

"I was hit by a car, Daryl." I laugh slightly and kiss him, before sitting back in the wheelchair.

He then rolls me back and we sit in the back, I take Rafe and hug him.

"God, I missed all of you." I whisper so only Rafe, Leyna and Daryl could here.

Leyna then hugs me and holds my hand.

"Speaking of, why're you here?" I ask Rafe, but it's cut short after we start leaving.

"We also want Noah." Dawn adds and I feel the tension fill the air.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Rick growls and my heart pounds. I squeeze Leyna's hand, feeling Daryl leave my wheelchair.

He stands next to Rick as they argue, finally Noah convinces them to let him stay. Beth hugs him, with a wild look in her eyes. She gets up real close to Dawn, said something quietly then in a flash pulls something out of her cast and stabs Dawn. Automatically, Dawn shoots and kills Beth. She looks at us with wide eyes, then mouths 'I didn't mean to...' then, Daryl shoots Dawn in the head, causing everyone to put their guns up.

"Everyone stop!" One of the cops says and I let go of Leyna's hand, Daryl's hurt and crying. He won't put his gun down.

They try to stop me before realizing it's stupid to even try. I limp over to Daryl and put my hand on his shoulder, kissing it softly.

"C'mon, baby. Put it down?" I help him with my hand, I feel him cry so I hug him tightly and ignore the pain that follows.

He pulls away gently a few moments later, picking Beth up. Tyreese comes over and helps me, I shake my head at the wheelchair and just walk, more like limp, out of the hospital. We see Maggie with a huge grin on and tears fall down my face as I see her next reaction when she sees Beth. She falls to the ground, Glen comforts her and his eyes meet mine. 'Are you okay?' his eyes ask and I shrug lightly, only he can see it.

Okay, sorry this is late and really short. I probably won't add any on until the next episode. I might add Leyna's POV, but I've been real busy and stuff. Please rate, follow, comment, favorite and review. ;) Thanks so much for reading the stuff I love.


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